On The Dot: Climate change makes it difficult for forests to recover from fierce fires
BALTIMORE -- On The Dot is exploring how climate change is leading to more extreme wildfires.
One effect of warmer conditions is more dry vegetation, which becomes fuel for fires in forests.
More fuel means hotter fires.
This time, On The Dot's host, David Schechter, is comparing two forests in Montana. One of them is struggling to recover from an extreme fire.
Trees usually grow back after forest fires, but hotter fires make it more difficult for forests to recover.
When a first has been incredibly, horribly burned, it's more difficult for life to grow back.
It's not easy to see climate change at first.
Kim Davis, a research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service. She studies how forests recover or don't recover from fires that are burning hotter.
She took On The Dot to a fire site that burned in 2000.
Not much has grown back since that time. That's because it's far away from any living trees that survived the fire. So, there aren't seeds getting dispersed in the area.
An additional issue caused by climate change, aside from the damaging fire, is the warmer climate itself.
In a warmer climate, this spot that gets direct sun is now hotter than it used to be 50 years ago. It has a negative impact on seedlings.
"Adult trees are less sensitive to climate because they have really deep roots," Davis said. "They have thick bark. They can handle drier and warmer conditions. And seedlings are really tiny. And as we walk around and look in here, you'll see a lot of them are dead. They can't get to the deeper soil water."
A seedling attempted to recover from a fire would have fared better when the climate was different.
The part of the forest that did not endure as hot of a fire as the first location left some survivors, Davis said.
In that environment, there are trees in the area capable of providing seeds, Davis said.
Additionally, those trees provide shade, which makes it easier for the seedlings to grow.
The Forest Service estimates more than 4 million acres are in need of reforestation in areas largely damaged by wildfires.