Here we show that, while there is a strong negative feedback for very short reburning intervals throughout wildland forests of the Western US, that feedback weakens after 10-20 years. Also, the relationship between reburning intervals and drought diverges depending on location, with coastal systems reburning quicker (e.g., shorter interval between fires) in wetter conditions and interior forests in drier. This supports the idea that vegetation productivity – primarily fine fuels that accumulate rapidly (<10 years) – is of primary importance in determining reburn intervals.
Buma B, SA Weiss, K Hayes and MS Lucash. 2020. Wildland fire reburning trends across the US West suggest only short-term negative feedback and differing climatic effects.
Accepted to Environmental Research Letters doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab6c70