As part of the 2026 North American Forest Ecology Workshop (NAFEW) held in Missoula, MT, NRFSN sponsored a field tour of the Fire & Fire Surrogate Study Site at Lubrecht Experimental Forest.

The study, initiated in 1999, evaluates the effects of thinning and burning treatments in fire-adapted ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir forests.  A unique aspect of the study is that it was heavily impacted by a mountain pine beetle outbreak approximately 5 years after treatment implementation. A second thinning was completed in 2023, followed by mastication in the thin-only treatment. Second-entry prescribed burns were completed in 2024.  The tour discussed treatment effects over time, including stand dynamics, fuel treatment longevity, potential fire behavior, bark beetle activity, invasive species, and soil productivity.  

On the Friday of the workshop, Approximately 50 participants from NAFEW and the National Associate of University Forest Resources Programs visited the Lubrecht Experimental Forest Fire-Fire Surrogate Study Site. The group toured all four of the study treatments: a no-action control, a prescribed burn, a thinning, and a combined thinning and prescribed burn. Participants discussed treatment effects over time, including stand dynamics, fuel treatment longevity and maintenance, potential fire behavior, bark beetle activity, invasive species, and soil productivity. 

The tour was led by Sharon Hood and Justin Crotteau from the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station.