What Is Wildfire Mitigation
This iconography was used with permission from University of Nevada, Reno Extension and the Living With Fire Program.
Wildfire mitigation can achieve many goals, most important is to reduce wildfire severity and create fire adapted communities.
Prescribed fire is a planned fire; it is also sometimes called a “controlled burn” or “prescribed burn,” and is used to meet land management goals. The San Juan National Forest has a robust prescribed fire program.
Hand thinning is primarily undertaken to remove small diameter trees (sometimes called ladder fuels) from stands that are too dense. This is done with hand tools, saws or small equipment such as weed eaters.
Mechanical thinning of forests (any land with vegetation) involves using heavy forestry equipment to greatly reduce tree densities across all size classes, and increase the size and frequency of forest openings. Equipment can include masticators and mowers.
Landscape scale is an approach to mitigation that includes completing mitigation cross-boundary (on public and private parcels) to mitigate larger areas and focuses on holistic land management, considering how one parcel or area impacts others. When planning landscape-scale mitigation, projects are planned across ecosystems and through various fuel types, therefore mitigated areas have the potential to decrease wildfire behavior and movement. Landscape-scale is terminology adopted in the conservation field and best seen practiced locally through Rocky Mountain Restoration Initiative.
Biomass utilization involves using mitigated vegetation for other uses. These uses may include obvious options such as lumber but may also include creating wood pellets for heating, creating compost for soil improvements, and creating biochar for remediation projects such as mine reclamation. More information on local options found further down on this page.
The above and below iconography was used with permission from University of Nevada, Reno Extension and the Living With Fire Program.