Dr. Brian Buma, Assistant Professor with CU Denver Integrative Biology, recently coauthored a Tamm Review on the effects of salvage logging in forests around the world. Tamm reviews are an invited, high-profile series of reviews on rapidly changing topics of interest worldwide. Salvage logging is when disturbed forests, like post-fire or post-beetle trees, are harvested, often justified as a way to reduce the chance of a subsequent disturbance. The review finds that the salvage logging, far from being a simple process, can be counter-productive in preventing future disturbances depending on the process and location, for example in some cases increasing the chance of future fire.
Leverkus AB, Buma B, Wagenbrenner J, Burton P, Lingua E, Marzano R, Thorn S. 2021. Tamm review: Does salvage logging mitigate subsequent forest disturbances? Forest Ecology and Management. 481:118721.