Cal Fire tests strategies to make redwood forests more resilient to climate change

After several years of planning, public outreach and environmental review, Cal Fire has begun the next phase of the Coastal Adaptive Management Experiment, commonly referred to as AMEX, at Mendocino County’s Jackson Demonstration State Forest. The long-term research study will evaluate several forest management strategies designed to improve the resilience of California’s coastal redwood forests to climate impacts.

AMEX is part of a larger network of replicated experiments across the Sierra Nevada and coastal redwood forests, comparing treatments that mimic historic fire regimes, promote species diversity and reduce carbon loss. The research, funded through a California Forest Health Grant matched by the Demonstration State Forest Program, is designed to generate and track long-term changes in forest composition, structure and function. The treatments represent a suite of plausible management approaches that land managers may use to address both ongoing and emerging stresses on forest ecosystems.