Modeling finds old-growth wildfire risk highest where low-severity fires once burned

A new analysis shows that the Pacific Northwest's mature and old-growth forests are most at risk of severe wildfire in areas that historically burned frequently at lower severity. The study by scientists at Oregon State University and USDA Forest Service Research & Development is important because those forests are culturally, economically and ecologically significant, supporting biodiversity while storing vast amounts of carbon, and they are under increasing threat of stand-replacing wildfire.