MEDFORD, Ore.- The community has seen a decent number of fires so far this fire season, but all that smoke has some unforeseen benefits!
According to forest scientists at Oregon State University, wildfire smoke is helping to protect vulnerable tree seedlings.
Amanda Brackett, Faculty Research Assistant at OSU‘s College of Forestry, made that discovery while working on the effects of forest canopy cover.
Brackett says young tree seedings are especially vulnerable to heat stress, meaning tree regeneration is more difficult in hot summers.
But with smoke bouncing back some of that solar radiation, tree seedlings have more of a chance.
“You can’t get a multi-aged forest if you don’t have regeneration creating that second cohort coming up underneath an existing canopy,” Brackett told NBC5.
Brackett says while smoke obviously raises many concerns, fire is a natural forest occurrence that comes with some ecological upsides.
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