Researchers at UC Berkeley are using a 4,000-acre experimental forest in the northern Sierra to come up with ways to manage our wildlands as we face more intense droughts and fires.
Scott Stephens, UC Berkeley professor of Forest Science says, "Climate change is making things more challenging. We’re getting more unpredictable weather. We have a drought that’s amplified by climate change. Of course we’ve had droughts in the place we call California for thousands of years. But the challenge is we’re bringing forth a poor structure that is so vulnerable.
"Why is it vulnerable? Because of the way we manage our systems for the last 120 years. We know indigenous burning and also lighting fire used to be incredibly common in our forests in California. We also know for sure that we took the fire out 120 years ago. We also sometimes harvested the larger trees. We don’t do that as much anymore which also sets these forests up."
Stephens talks about who manages our forests, what factors are leading to worsening fires and what a well-managed, resilient forest looks like. Also Stephens tells how you can get involved.
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Watch the full interview in the video above.
