Dead wood must be salvaged from forest floor to prevent wildfires

A debate has been raging in the central interior of British Columbia over the pace and scale of post-wildfire salvage of dead trees. …The salvage debate pits those who want to recover any remaining economic value in burnt wood while still possible from those who don’t wish to see another major disturbance (logging) visited on a site that has just experienced a major disturbance. The province has just waded into the debate with the release of the report: Post Natural-Disturbance Forest Retention Guidance. This document is intended to guide forest recovery post-wildfire; including where and how to salvage. …A better strategy is to look to what we know about historical resilience, couple that with our predictions of climate change influences… It will mean removing large quantities of dead wood everywhere they pose a future threat to resilience regardless of land designation.