Using 3D Data and Fire Modeling to Examine Future Wildfire Risk Following Understory Fuels Management in a Mixed Hardwood Forest

Dr. Lisa Bentley is the faculty-lead Principal Investigator (PI) alongside graduate student PI, Monica Delmartini.  In the western U.S., more than a century of fire suppression, logging, and cessation of Indigenous burning has led to significantly altered forest stand conditions. Utilizing 3D data derived from terrestrial laser scanning and a physics-based fire model, this project will investigate if thinning prescriptions in mixed hardwood and hardwood/conifer vegetation communities lead to decreased future fire intensity.