Treatments May Reduce Loss in Future Droughts and Bark Beetle Epidemics

Brooms are shrubs introduced into North America from Europe in the mid-1800s. Common species include Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius) and Portuguese broom (Cytisus striatus). Brooms initially were introduced as ornamentals, but then used extensively for erosion control along roadsides and in mined areas.

Now throughout California forests, roadsides, and wildlands they are weeds that increase the risk of wildfire and crowd out desirable vegetation. They form impenetrable thickets that invade other vegetation, shade out tree seedlings, and make reforestation difficult. They burn readily,...

The 2004 Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment that guides the management of the national forests in the Sierra has been ripe with controversy since its inception. Disagreements over harvesting plan details, the effectiveness of SPLAT fuels treatments and their effects on wildlife and water issues led to the formation of the Sierra Nevada Adaptive Management Project (SNAMP) as a way to address these controversies and learn from the best available science. The US Forest Service, US Fish & Wildlife Service and California Resource agencies contracted with the University of California to be an independent, neutral third party to research key management issues, develop a multi-party adaptive management program that builds on new research...