As fire season hits the west once again, folks ask, "Are the trees I planted through Trees for a Change going to burn up?"
The answer is, our trees are most likely safe. And there are several reasons why:

1) Fires need fuel. Our trees are planted to restore burned areas, so there is very little fuel for another fire to come through again soon after. It takes years to build up fuel (fuel= trees and ground cover like weeds, shrubs, wildflowers, pine needles, pine cones, etc.) So, in general, the more recently our trees have been planted, the less likely a big fire will come through again any time soon.

2) Our trees are planted with future in mind. The forests we help restore are often places that were overgrown and had an abundance of fuel for the fire that came through and destroyed everything. A current day forest management practice is to restore fire burned areas in way that will help avoid overgrowth in the future. So, our baby trees are planted 10' to 15' away from each other, which makes them grow into part of a healthier forest ecosystem that is much less likely to experience another catastrophic fire. When you plant trees with us, you're not only contributing trees to the forest, you're helping to make that forest less fire prone and healthier in the future too.

3) Tree science is getting better and better. The US Forest Service has, for more than 100 years, been studying trees, fire, disease and forest management practices in their Experimental Forests and Ranges. The EFRs are 84 "living laboratories" located all over the U.S. where careful and long term research takes place with a focus toward the future of our forests.

One of the things being studied in the EFRs are ways to plant more fire resistant trees. Currently some of the research includes planting seeds sourced from pine cones that have survived fire, and cultivating trees that have thicker, more fire resistant bark and more heat tolerant pine cones. While we aren't anywhere near being able to plant trees that we are sure can survive wildfire, the restoration work we do in partnership with the Forest Service is certainly helping create healthier and more fire resistant forests for our likely hotter future.

So, while we can't make guarantees that the forest areas we restore will never be impacted by a future fire, the overall risk is fairly low and we feel confident that our trees will live and thrive for the benefit of all for generations to come.