Summary: Forest restoration and fuel reduction treatments are key tools for reducing future fire severity; however, land managers may not have a good estimate for what percentage of the landscape needs to be treated to restore fire regimes and impact fire resilience. This webinar shows how treating larger areas in key locations impacts fire effects and how land managers can accomplish it. Recorded on: March 24, 2026 

Description: Shifting fire regimes driven by fire suppression, fuel accumulation, and climate change are threatening the persistence of dry forest landscapes across the western United States. Managers are increasingly investing in restoration and fuel reduction treatments, yet key questions remain about how much of a landscape must be treated to reduce burn severity and restore functioning fire regimes. This presentation dives into the results of an analysis of 5,084 fires over 16 years which allowed researchers to 1) quantify burned landscape treatment composition and 2) evaluate how the percentage of area treated influences inside-boundary, outside-boundary, and cumulative fire effects across three spatial scales and three major ecoregions. Topics of discussion include a) how increasing treated area generally increases the proportion of low- to moderate-severity fire effects at the landscape scale, driven primarily by strong inside-boundary effects with measurable, though smaller, “shadow” effects beyond treatment edges, and b) the complementary roles of mechanical treatments, prescribed fire, and managed wildfire in achieving landscape targets of roughly 40–60% area treated.