Many forests across the country are fire-dependent, and require natural fires to clear excess vegetation that can increase the risk and severity of forest fires and make forests more susceptible to diseases and pests. Unfortunately, previous land management practices, including nearly a century of fire exclusion have, created an unhealthy and volatile situation for America’s forestlands. 

New legislation in the Senate — the Forest Landscape Restoration Act — would address this situation by providing funding to restore forest health by removing excess vegetation which can help stimulate the local wood processing industry — making forests less susceptible to unnaturally severe forest fires and invasive species, and bringing economic benefits to communities.

The forest-restoration and -resilience work of groups such as the Tapash Sustainable Forest Collaborative, a Washington State-based group that includes The Nature Conservancy, could greatly benefit from this law. Betsy Bloomfield, the Conservancy’s program director for South Central Washington, talked with nature.org about the need for this legislation to aid in the recovery of degraded forests such as those of the East Cascades.

Nature.org: What threats are the Tapash Sustainable Forest Collaborative trying to address in the forests of the East Cascades? How have these forests been altered?

Betsy Bloomfield: There are two critical threats impairing these forests. The first is a mix of land management practices that have led to highly altered ecosystems, including decades of fire exclusion, and past harvest practices that removed the old, fire resistant structure. The other critical threat is the spread of development into the woods. These two factors, poor land management and urban encroachment, have had a cumulative effect of changing how the forest looks today, and how it functions as an ecosystem.

These threats have created conditions that we see all around the West: Forests that have changed from fire-adapted systems to those that are at high risk of complete loss from fires, insects and disease. 

Nature.org: What problems do these threats pose for people and nature?

Betsy Bloomfield: These threats have created dense forest conditions, with tree species that are susceptible to fire becoming more widespread. Fires that used to creep along the ground and take out the low understory, while leaving the big, widely-spaced old trees unharmed, are now much more likely to consume the entire forest.

Also, insects have a much easier time spreading throughout a forest when the trees are crowded together. We've created a virtual "salad bar" for bugs. Many animal species that are dependent on old growth ponderosa pine, like the white-headed woodpecker, are at risk of losing their habitat because of increased numbers of insects.

With more and more houses being built in the woods, our ability to use natural fire and prescribed fire for restoration becomes too risky. People are becoming progressively more at risk from catastrophic fires, as we witnessed during the 2007 fire season in the West. People are also affected by the longer term affects of losing our forests to catastrophic wildfire, these include loss of forest related industries, damaged watersheds, decreased carbon sequestration and the disappearance of areas of great scenic beauty. In some cases, our forests may take centuries to recover.

Nature.org: How would federal legislation like the Forest Landscape Restoration Act help the Collaborative achieve its goals and help communities in and around the forest?

Betsy Bloomfield: Right now it is not economically feasible to remove enough of the densely stocked stands of small trees that create these degraded and risky forest conditions — it is costly to harvest and haul wood with low commercial value to distant mills. This legislation offers a critical funding mechanism that would cover some of the cost of the restoration treatments. The bill would fund long-term forest stewardship efforts and give investors a degree of certainty in supplying material for local businesses.

This bill would help stimulate local economies by reinvigorating local forest-dependent businesses that can use the small wood to make pellets, furniture, flooring, fencing, shavings, compost, or any of a wide variety of products. It would also provide agencies like the Forest Service with the means to plan and implement forest restoration treatments by providing supplemental funding to cover all the costs of these projects.

Nature.org: How do communities benefit from such large-scale restoration efforts? 

Betsy Bloomfield: The Tapash Collaborative focuses on the dual role played by resilient forests: healthy forests can survive changing conditions, and they can provide a flow of goods and services, such as protecting sources of drinking water, carbon exchange, soil quality, wildlife habitat and breathtaking beauty. Our collaboration also envisions stimulating new, innovative markets to turn the products of restoration into alternative energy and local wood-based products. Biofuel from wood is a very exciting prospect for us, and can help finance forest restoration, while generating a whole new economic sector for our region. New product lines, like pellet manufacturing, can spring up alongside biofuels production, creating opportunities for a whole spectrum of sustainable forestry.

Nature.org: What forest restoration and protection strategies is the Collaborative using now? What about the Tapash Collaborative makes it likely to succeed?

Betsy Bloomfield: We are working to assess the current ecological condition and biomass potential of over a million acres of our shared landscape to help shape our plan of action. This is an important concept, because by looking at our collective ownerships we can assess the whole landscape, rather than just pieces of it. The Tapash Collaborative has brought together people from different organizations, including federal agencies and the Yakama nation, who share a common vision for healthy forests. We understand that one organization can’t succeed without working with the others on the big picture. Collaboration is hard work, but I think this group has taken on the challenge and commitment to protect the future of these forests. 

Nature.org: Is there anything more the Collaborative would like to accomplish?

Betsy Bloomfield: In order to meet our objectives, we need to create a new standard for work in this region. We need to attract new investments that can target the huge supply of overstocked forest stands for use in new products industries—including alternative energy.

We also need to explore new ways in this region to finance protection and restoration efforts. Ecosystem markets may be part of the answer, because natural systems provide many services beyond their commercial value. How do we establish real values for those services?  For instance, how much would a forested headwaters system managed for watershed protection and clean drinking water be worth to downstream cities?

How are we accounting for the all the costs associated with catastrophic fire, including the big pulses of carbon released to the atmosphere? Are we better off spending our state and federal dollars on the huge costs of suppressing fire, or would we be better off spending these budgets on treating the forests so they can regain their more natural ability to resist disturbance? These are the bigger questions that we are exploring together.

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Charles Gurche (Tieton Project); Photo © Julie Conley (Betsy Bloomfield).