The Role of Shaded Fuel Breaks in Support of Washington's 20-year Forest Health Strategic Plan: Eastern Washington

Shaded fuel breaks, a common strategy proposed to reduce wildfire risk, often elicit diverse opinions from stakeholders, including firefighting professionals and members of the public. While the efficacy of using fuel breaks in support of fire operations is a common debate, the role of fuel breaks in support of broader forest health and treatment goals is not discussed as often. Washington State has an ongoing long-term strategy to accomplish bold forest health and resilience goals for eastern Washington. The 20-Year Forest Health Strategic Plan: Eastern Washington assesses the scale of forest health treatment needs and spatial treatment priorities based on an analysis of vegetation departure, drought vulnerability, wildfire risk, and exposure to communities in priority watersheds across central and eastern Washington. This analysis uses Potential Operational Delineations (PODs) as a spatial framework to identify treatment locations that have a dual benefit of addressing underlying forest health issues while also providing strategic locations for safe and effective fire management. In this context, it is important to discuss the roles of fuel breaks and landscape treatments in achieving the landscape resilience and community protection goals of the 20-Year Forest Health Strategic Plan. The objectives of this paper are threefold: clarify terminology surrounding fuel breaks and other treatment strategies considered as part of the 20-Year Forest Health Strategic Plan; review the available literature on fuel breaks in conifer systems; and examine the roles of fuel breaks and landscape treatments where appropriate for achieving multiple landscape restoration goals. We propose that fuel breaks and landscape treatments are complementary approaches that serve different landscape goals. Combining these approaches at the appropriate scale and location will significantly increase our capacity to protect communities, firefighters while improving forest health across all lands. A shared understanding of the objectives, strengths and limitations of landscape treatments and fuel breaks can foster social acceptance for action, reduce conflict in collaborative settings and increase the pace and scale of restoration.