Natural resource economist, Olakunle Sodiya has received funding from the 2023–24 CAL FIRE Forest Health Research Programme to investigate forest management approaches aimed at reducing wildfire risks and strengthening forest resilience in the western United States.

Sodiya, a research scientist at North Carolina State University’s Baker Resource Economics and Sustainability Lab, said the project is designed to help forest ecosystems adapt to changing climatic conditions while exploring economic opportunities from materials generated through wildfire prevention efforts.

Speaking with our correspondent on Friday, Sodiya said the research, scheduled for implementation in 2025, would examine how forest management could be used to address the increasing frequency and severity of wildfires.

He said rising temperatures, prolonged drought and changing rainfall patterns have increased wildfire threats across the western United States, with recent fires in Los Angeles, including the Palisades and Eaton wildfires, illustrating the growing danger.

According to him, decades of fire suppression have contributed to the buildup of live and dead vegetation, creating heavier fuel loads that can intensify fires and affect the structure and resilience of forest ecosystems.

The research project, titled “Identifying Potential Locations for Expanded, Reactivated and New Wood Processing Facilities to Improve Financial Prospects and Prioritize Wildfire Risk Mitigation Funding in the Priority Investment Landscapes of California, United States,” will examine how wood residues generated from fuel-reduction activities can be converted into forest products.

Sodiya said the approach could simultaneously support wildfire mitigation, strengthen forest-based markets and contribute to climate-related goals.

The CAL FIRE Forest Health Research Programme, which funds research focused on forest health and wildfire prevention, described the project as an important contribution to improving knowledge around forest and fire management in California.

The researcher noted that wildfires have consequences beyond the destruction of forests, including loss of lives and property, greenhouse gas emissions, deterioration of water quality and prolonged exposure to smoke.

He identified prescribed burning, forest thinning and carefully managed wildfires as some of the interventions that could help reduce the amount of combustible material in forests and limit the severity of future fires.

However, Sodiya said the wider use of mechanical fuel-reduction methods has been constrained by challenges surrounding public-land policies and limited expertise in prescribed burning.

He said the study would therefore examine market conditions and the geographic relationship between forest resources, processing facilities and wildfire management needs to determine the economic and environmental implications of different intervention strategies.

Sodiya added that expanding fuel-reduction programmes could help make wildfires more manageable while creating opportunities for sustainable forest-product markets.

He said integrating scientific research with appropriate policies and active forest management would be essential to improving forest resilience and reducing potential carbon losses associated with increasingly severe wildfires.