Healthy Forest Healthy Communities joins We the Forest for a film profile on Malcolm North, the Affiliate Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of California, Davis, Research Forest Ecologist at the Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station.
With 35 years of research in the field, North has primarily focused on trying to understand how western conifers have evolved, and how their ecological functions affect the composition of the ecosystem and wildlife habitat.
North notes that the key component to restoring forests that are prone to massive wildfires is to reduce densities and fuel loads, through a combination of understory thinning treatments combined with mechanical fires. In doing so, the forest system can become more resilient and regenerative.
