Removing dead trees after mass drought mortality enhances fire-adapted tree recruitment, reduces future fire severity, and has mixed effects on carbon stocks

Despite the vast area and large numbers of trees affected by drought- and bark beetle-induced tree mortality worldwide, relatively little is known about how post-mortality management practices affect forest recovery, particularly in forests historically adapted to frequent fire. Cutting and removing dead trees after a mass-mortality event provides an opportunity to salvage timber and lessen wildfire risk by reducing fuel loads, but the ecological impacts of this strategy extend beyond fuel reduction. A severe drought in California, USA (2012–2016) precipitated a mass die-off of conifers in the Sierra Nevada range. We examined how the management treatment of removing dead trees affected mixed-conifer forests in four key areas: fuels, tree regeneration, carbon stocks, and future fire behavior and severity. We collected data in 122 paired plots (22 m diameter) in treated and adjacent untreated areas spanning 300 km of the Sierra Nevada, one to 5 years after the removal of recently dead trees. We found that sound coarse woody debris mass was 51% higher with removal, but rotten coarse woody debris was not different. Litter depth and 1-h and 10-h fuel mass decreased with removal. Combined Pinus ponderosa and P. jeffreyi (shade-intolerant) seedling densities were 349% higher with removal, while P. lambertiana (moderately shade-tolerant) and Abies concolor (shade-tolerant) seedling densities were 64 and 55% lower with removal. Sapling density was 56% lower in treated plots but did not differ by species. Total forest carbon was 32% lower in treated sites, predominantly driven by dead-tree removal. Using the Forest Vegetation Simulator, we simulated future fire severity (% basal area mortality) and behavior (torch potential) over 100 years at 10-year intervals and predicted that after a 20-year lag, treatment persistently reduced simulated fire severity and behavior. Removal of dead trees initially enhanced regeneration of fire-adapted yellow pine species but negatively affected sugar pine regeneration, had varying effects on different fuel types, had predictable effects on on-site carbon stores, and lowered modeled future wildfire severity.