Why We Work With Fire
The Nature Conservancy is well known for conducting controlled burns to restore health and diversity to natural lands. But that's not the whole story.
Wyoming’s Green Reach
Healthy forests benefit water, wildlife and people in Wyoming and beyond.
Wyoming's forests store much of the state’s critical water supply and provide habitat for some of our nation’s most iconic wildlife. The state’s vast and varied expanses of pine, fir, aspen and other trees also bolster a thriving recreation economy and benefit people and nature far beyond its borders.
And yet Wyoming’s forests are in trouble. Hotter, drier conditions are fueling more severe wildfires that can destroy large swaths of forest, put human communities at risk, and threaten precious water resources. That’s why The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is revitalizing Wyoming’s forests for the health of people and nature.
Tree branches
Big Ponderosa Pine at Tensleep Preserve in Wyoming.
© Franklin Eccher
What are Wyoming’s Forests worth?
Explore our Storymap to discover how forests provide roughly $26 billion in economic value every year for Wyoming.
Wyoming is one of the most arid states in America. Most of the state’s precipitation falls in the form of snow, while summers are typically hot and dry. Roughly 70% of the water in our rivers, streams, lakes and wetlands come from snow melt, and much of that snow falls in Wyoming’s forested mountains. Trees shade that mountain snowpack, causing it to melt more slowly and deliver a steady supply of water downstream throughout the warm months.
Snowtography: Managing Wyoming's Forests to Yield More Water
TNC is addressing Wyoming's need for reliable water supplies by studying how different approaches to forest thinning—the process of selectively cutting down some trees in a forest—impacts a forest's ability to hold water as snow. The research, in collaboration with donors, the USDA Agricultural Research Service, the University of Wyoming and the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, may help forests provide more water for people and nature downstream.
What is snowtography?
Snowtography is a method of measuring the impacts of forest restoration on snow accumulation and how slowly it melts by collecting data over the course of several winters using automated trail cameras, snow stakes and buried soil moisture sensors.
We know small openings in the tree canopy allow snow to accumulate on the forest floor in the protective shade of nearby trees. This builds a deeper snowpack that will melt more slowly in spring and summer. At a remote site high in the Sierra Madre Mountains in southeast Wyoming, scientists are collecting data over the course of several winters using automated trail cameras, snow stakes and buried soil moisture sensors.
Wyoming’s snow research sites are part of a larger network of snowtography projects that span the Colorado River Basin. Together, they can help forest managers, at both the local and regional scale, understand how forest thinning impact snowpack storage. This is critical to support a watershed like the Colorado River, which provides 40 million people with water for food, recreation, agriculture and energy.
Snowtography in Action
Fire-Adapted Forests
Wyoming’s forests evolved with fire. Regular, large-scale wildfires are a natural part of the state’s forest ecosystems. However, more than a century after the U.S. government and other agencies first sought to suppress virtually all wildfires, the state’s forests are choked with young trees and deadfall that increase the risk of severe fire.
Reducing Fire Risk to Protect Communities and Forests
TNC is partnering with the USDA Forest Service to strategically reduce the amount of flammable material in our forests–particularly near communities where severe wildfire could endanger human lives, destroy homes and devastate local economies.
We use two primary techniques to reduce fire risk:
- Forest thinning entails cutting out some trees and brush to reduce the density of trees and reduce other flammable materials, such as downed trees.
- Prescribed fire involves specialized crews who work within carefully constrained periods of favorable weather to ignite fires that burn brush and small trees in a controlled fashion.
Both methods reduce the risk of severe fire later on, but scientific research has shown that the two practices in tandem are most successful at reducing subsequent fire risk.
Forests Support Connected Landscapes
In Wyoming, forests are integral to two large landscapes in particular: the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the Colorado River Basin. Protecting forests in these landscapes is crucial to the long-term health of these vital landscapes.
- In the Greater Yellowstone, forests offer essential shelter and forage for elk, bears, moose, beavers, trout, eagles and other wildlife of one of America’s most revered natural landscapes. They also provide the steady supply of cold water needed to support for some of the nation’s best fishing.
- The Colorado River has key headwaters in Wyoming, and the state’s forested mountains hold much of the snowpack that feeds into those headwaters streams and rivers. These waters provide habitat and sustenance for a wide range of animals downstream. The river also supports some of the nation’s most productive agricultural lands, as well as millions of people who live in the Colorado River watershed.
Wyoming’s Future Relies on Healthy Forests
Restoring forests to health requires significant investment in time and labor, but it is one of the best investments Wyoming can make. Forest thinning, prescribed fire and other efforts now will help our forests adapt to our changing climate and stay healthy into the future, while communities will benefit from reduced fire risk today and be better prepared for increased risk in years to come.
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Taking in the View
All Internal Rights. Camping and hiking in the Central Cascades near Cle Elum, Washington. Photo by Caleb and Ariana Babcock.
©
Caleb and Ariana Babcock
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