D

e

c

.

2

0

2

3

S

c

i

e

n

c

e

C

o

r

n

e

r

|

A

Y

e

a

r

o

f

S

c

i

e

n

c

e

i

n

R

e

v

i

e

w

Written by: Kirsten Hodgson, Project Associate

Science is central to everything we do at Blue Forest. In 2023, the Blue Forest science team and our partners released five new research papers, each one contributing to our understanding of the benefits and complexities of forest management and landscape restoration. This research grounds our work, building our understanding of the many potential values of forest management, supporting our exploration of the groups who can be brought to the table, and better equipping us to evaluate and communicate the benefits of investing in ecosystem resilience. The research published in 2023 covers multiple different forest restoration topics, demonstrating the many ways that forest management interacts with our ecosystems, watersheds, and communities.

A multi-benefit framework for funding forest management in fire-driven ecosystems across the Western U.S.

A team of authors representing Blue Forest and our science partners published “A multi-benefit framework for funding forest management in fire-prone ecosystems across the Western U.S.”, which identified eleven community and ecosystem benefits from managed forests, and then described a framework by which these benefits can be used to motivate investment in forest management. The framework provides an approach for identifying the particular benefits of a forest management project, engaging beneficiaries, and bringing multiple beneficiaries together to comprehensively fund a project–all aimed at stimulating investment in forest management to help accomplish activities more quickly and at larger scales. Forest management’s numerous benefits are a focal point of Blue Forest’s work, including the projects we develop alongside our partners and our research.

Financial analysis of innovative wood products and carbon finance to support forest restoration in California

Forest restoration and fuels reduction activities generate large amounts of excess material from small diameter trees and other vegetation.  This material is not traditionally valuable for wood products, but must be removed from managed landscapes for the full benefits of restoration to be realized. Identifying economically viable uses for low-value biomass can facilitate its removal from restored landscapes, contribute funding for forest restoration, and generate positive climate impacts. However, questions remain about their viability. This paper, authored by Blue Forest team members Micah Elias and Phil Saksa, alongside collaborators, explored the financial viability of products made from low-value biomass under different climate policy and market scenarios. The authors identified several profitable uses of non-merchantable biomass, but stressed the need for long-term policy support and viable end markets to drive large-scale investment into the space.  The results of this research helped inform the launch of Blue Forest Asset Management–exemplifying how science truly is the backbone of our work!

The human health benefits of improving forest health in California: Investigating the links between forest management, wildfire smoke, and the health sector

Studies suggest that the impacts of wildfire smoke to human health may be the single largest cost of wildfires, yet these costs are largely under-estimated and still not fully understood. Additionally, while some forest management activities do emit smoke, repeated management may provide a human health benefit when compared to unmanaged forests that burn more severely and in uncontrolled ways. Alongside our partners at the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST), members of the Blue Forest science team studied how health sector organizations experience the impacts of wildfire smoke, how they view connections between the forest management and health sector, and the current evidence for smoke tradeoffs between different forest management scenarios. The authors found that the wildfire smoke impacts to human health and health sector organizations are far-reaching, though not equally distributed nor fully understood, and that additional research is needed to support preliminary evidence that forest management can decrease these impacts to communities and health sector organizations in the long term.

Exploring interacting effects of forest restoration on wildfire risk, hydropower, and environmental flows

While the co-benefits of forest treatment are critical to supporting investment in forest management, the value of these benefits are often not fully quantified. Impacts of combined events, such as treatment followed by wildfire, are even less well understood. As the benefits of treatment to water resources are often key to our work in engaging utilities and other organizations that stand to benefit from a restoration project, Tessa Maurer and Phil Saksa of the Blue Forest team collaborated on a study that investigated the impacts of planned treatments and unplanned fires on vegetation, then projected subsequent impacts on streamflow and reservoir operations. They found that vegetation treatment has the potential to increase annual runoff by 1.5 to 1.8%. The increased runoff accounts for an annual value of additional hydropower generation of up to $115,000 and could cover between 8 and 16% of treatment costs, depending on the discount rate and how fast vegetation regrows after treatment. Understanding the value of additional runoff in this and similar landscapes enables us to better engage with utilities and other beneficiaries and support their participation in forest restoration projects.

Building water resilience in the face of cascading wildfire risk

Similarly, our understanding of the risks that wildfires pose to the security of our water system is still incomplete, despite evidence from recent wildfires in California that impacts from and to water distribution networks were related to subsequent drinking water contamination. To that end, a research team including Blue Forest science team member Kim Seipp, reviewed more than 200 research papers and reports focused on the nexus of wildfires and water. They found that despite a growing body of research, knowledge gaps persist, particularly in regards to wildfire impacts on water infrastructure, the driving mechanisms behind the connections between wildfire and water systems, and the nuances of how these interactions may change with mitigating actions such as forest management. Continuing to build our understanding of the interactions between forest management and our water systems will strengthen our ability to facilitate investment into our critical forest ecosystems.

As a nonprofit focused on increasing the resilience of forest ecosystems through accelerating forest management, Blue Forest brings together diverse groups who benefit from healthier landscapes. Furthering our knowledge about the connections between our communities, our landscapes, and the benefits we receive from them helps us to articulate the importance of investing in their protection and convene partners in action to achieve that goal.

List of papers (in order mentioned):

1. A multi-benefit framework for funding forest management in fire-driven ecosystems across the Western U.S.

   1. Authors: Kimberly Quesnel Seipp, Tessa Maurer, Micah Elias, Phil Saksa, Catherine Keske, Kirsten Oleson, Benis Egoh, Rachael Cleveland, Charity Nyelele, Nicolas Goncalves, Kyle Hemes, Peter Wyrsch, David Lewis, Min Gon Chung, Han Guo, Martha Conklin, Roger Bales

2. Financial analysis of innovative wood products and carbon finance to support forest restoration in California

   1. Authors: Micah Elias, John Dees, Bodie Cabiyo, Phil Saksa, Daniel J. Sanchez

3. The human health benefits of improving forest health in California: Investigating the links between forest management, wildfire smoke, and the health sector

   1. Authors: Teresa J. Feo, Kimberly Quesnel Seipp, Signe Stroming, Kirsten Hodgson, Clare Loughlin, Phil Saksa

4. Exploring interacting effects of forest restoration on wildfire risk, hydropower, and environmental flows

   1. Authors: Benjamin P. Bryant, Tessa Maurer, Phil Saksa, Jonathan D. Herman, Kristen N. Wilson, Edward Smith

5. Building water resilience in the face of cascading wildfire risk

   1. Authors: Megan F. Belongia, Courtney Hammond Wagner, Kimberly Quesnel Seipp, Newsha K. Ajami