Millions of acres of forest in California are at risk from high severity wildfire, and there has been a large debate on management of US Forest Service lands in the Sierra Nevada since 1990. Disagreements, lawsuits, planning, and many meetings have not reconciled these differences. How do fuel treatments at the landscape scale affect fire risk, wildlife, forest health, and water? How effective are different methods of public participation regarding these efforts? The UC Office of the President was contacted in 2003 by the US Forest Service to ask if a group of scientists might be willing to help reconcile these differences. The U.S. Forest Service’s 2004 Sierra Nevada Forest Amendment is the plan enacted by law that is currently being implemented in the Sierra Nevada. The plan emphasizes a system of Strategically Placed Landscape Treatments to reduce fire risk. Results from this study will be used to improve forest management across all Federal forests in California.
The Sierra Nevada Adaptive Management Program is made up of researchers from the University of California, the University of Minnesota, the U.S. Forest Service, the California Resources Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the public.