Post-Wildfire Land Restoration in Colorado

Understanding Nature Restoration After Wildfires

How Do Wildfires Impact Forests?

When it comes to forests, not all fires are bad. Many types of forests need fire to thrive as it removes dense vegetation, creates open patches for wildlife and helps pine cones release their seeds. Low and moderate-intensity fires can also reduce the likelihood of future, large-scale catastrophic wildfires.

However, when fire is suppressed in forests as it has been e in much of North America for over 100 years - the result is the massive fires we have seen in the last decade. These are fires that burn at high intensity, destroying hundreds of thousands of acres, and threatening both human and wildlife populations.

Some forests burned by these high-intensity wildfires do not regenerate on their own or face invasion of weeds that further extend the timeline for forest recovery and increase the risk of return fires . It is in these challenged landscapes, where forests struggle to return, that Land Life believes reforestation work is most valuable.

• Natural Causes: Wildfires are a natural occurrence in many ecosystems, crucial in ecological cycles. A common natural cause is lightning, which can ignite fires in vulnerable and dry forests.
• Human Activities: Common causes include accidental ignitions from campfires or cigarettes and land clearing practices.
• Climate Change Effects: Longer, more intense dry seasons and higher temperatures, both linked to climate change, significantly increase the risk and severity of wildfires.

Land Life's expertise extends to restoring lands affected by wildfires and other causes of degradation, such as pests and diseases, or areas suffering from rural abandonment, each presenting unique challenges and restoration approaches.

Land Life’s Approach to Post-Wildfire Restoration

Land Life has developed tailored strategies to rehabilitate land devastated by wildfires. Our approach combines scientific understanding with practical experience, focusing on rebuilding resilient ecosystems designed with fire breaks to reduce the risk of fire events.

• Before the reforestation project: First, we assess the site and its surrounding area. This includes analyzing the damage caused by fire, the past fire history, and the region's climate conditions. This allows us to determine which species should be planted to ensure optimum resistance.
• During the planting: In areas at higher risk of wildfire, we plant less densely and a diverse mix of the most resilient native tree species. Also, we increase the landscape's resiliency by considering the site's integration into the broader landscape, including roadways, fire breaks, and fire buffers (i.e., planting fire-resistant species).
• Aftercare and management: Fire severity can also be increased in growing stands due to increased ladder fuels and biomass (dead and alive), so forest management is essential. We actively reduce wildfire risk by maintaining fire breaks, forest thinning and prescribed burning.