LINKING WATER QUALITY TO WILDFIRE MITIGATION: AN ESSENTIAL BENEFIT

Historically, wildfires have played an important role in maintaining the balance and health of forested ecosystems in the Western United States. However, over the past century, practices of fire suppression coupled with a rapidly warming climate, have increased the frequency and severity of wildfires transforming their ecological role into a destructive force. Modern wildfires threaten ecosystem resilience, water resources, and societal well-being.

While mitigation efforts, such as forest thinning and fuel reduction treatments, are effective, the ability to apply them at the speeds and scales necessary to address this problem remains challenging. Conservation finance offers a promising approach, facilitating up-front investments that allow utilities and other beneficiaries to implement forest restoration at a scale and pace that traditional funding mechanisms cannot match.

Quantifiable, science-backed benefits of forest restoration make these investments compelling. Often, the primary benefits emphasized are reduced fire severity and evapotranspiration, though restoration benefits extend well beyond these impacts. Indeed, water quality tends to be an underutilized metric for demonstrating the value of restoration efforts. Here, we explore various mechanisms of watershed response to severe wildfires and their impacts on water quality. We also outline a road map for quantifying the value of forest restoration in this context. Key considerations include addressing data limitations, bridging knowledge gaps, and advancing methodologies to assess watershed responses to severe wildfires. By leveraging science-backed metrics like water quality, we can strengthen the case for investing in forest restoration to protect vital natural resources.