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Jacob Levine @jacoblevine.bsky.social · 13d

I am advertising a postdoctoral position in my new lab at Duke, to start as early as August 2026. If you are interested in how plant communities respond to climate change, please consider applying!

academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30614

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Reposted by Jacob Levine

Berkeley Rausser College of Natural Resources @natureatcal.bsky.social · Aug 29

A new study led by alum @jacoblevine.bsky.social, BS '18 Forestry and EEP, and co-authored by Professor Scott Stephens and research scientist Brandon Collins explores why forests planted for logging purposes fuel devastating wildfires more often than untouched land. www.latimes.com/environment/...

Private land used for logging is more prone to severe fire than public lands. A new study shows why

New research explains why forests planted for logging purposes fuel devastating wildfires more often than untouched land.

www.latimes.com

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Jacob Levine @jacoblevine.bsky.social · Aug 22

It’s in our paper that just came out. See figure 4, positive interaction between tree height and HDW index causes sign to flip. Like I said, I’d want to understand it more, but this is just about the most detailed data we’ve ever had on these dynamics so I’d be surprised if it’s a total artifact

Jacob Levine @jacoblevine.bsky.social · Aug 22

My hope is that this research can help us better balance the goals of providing a sustainable source of timber and reducing fire risk.

Fire is ultimately a contagious process. That means we need broad cooperation across ownerships to get on top of it. Logging is a part of the solution!

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Jacob Levine @jacoblevine.bsky.social · Aug 22

The real issue for me is that logging=bad ignores all the nuance. Sure, some logging is bad for fire, but other types of logging are critical for reducing severity. The timber industry has a clear fire problem (so does USFS, just a slightly smaller one), it also provides enormous value.

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Jacob Levine @jacoblevine.bsky.social · Aug 22

We also find that while big trees reduce the prob. of high-severity fire in mild weather conditions, they become a liability in extreme ones, increasing fire severity. I would want to understand that result more before basing policy on it, but nevertheless it suggests some complications.

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Jacob Levine @jacoblevine.bsky.social · Aug 22

Its complicated. We show conclusively that the increased risk of high-severity fire in industrial forests is the result of plantation-type structures, too many trees spaced too regularly. This suggests thinning (i.e. logging) and rx fire are needed across both private and public land.

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Jacob Levine @jacoblevine.bsky.social · Aug 21

@latimes.com

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Jacob Levine @jacoblevine.bsky.social · Aug 21

Great to see our work in my hometown paper!

Its not logging itself thats the issue, its what happens after -- dense plantations are responsible for elevated fire severity in industrial forests.

Excellent story by @nohaggerty.bsky.social.

www.latimes.com/environment/...

Private land used for logging is more prone to severe fire than public lands. A new study shows why

New research explains why forests planted for logging purposes fuel devastating wildfires more often than untouched land.

www.latimes.com

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Jacob Levine @jacoblevine.bsky.social · Aug 21

Had a great time chatting with Jericka Duncan on @cbsnews.com.web.brid.gy last night about our new study on increased fire severity in industrial forest plantations.

You can watch it here!
www.cbsnews.com/video/megafi...

Megafires more likely to occur on private land than public forests, study finds

More than 44,000 fires have burned nearly 4 million acres across the U.S. so far in 2025, according to the National Interagency Fire Center, but only a handful have been megafires. A new study found t...

www.cbsnews.com

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Reposted by Jacob Levine

Emily Carter @emilycurates.bsky.social · Aug 20

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🔥 Want to know why megafires are growing bigger? A new study shows industrial private forests are 1.5× more likely to burn in high-severity wildfires than public forests. Mismanaged fuel beds help fires spread.

Industry managed forests more likely to fuel megafires, study finds

The odds of high-severity wildfire were nearly one-and-a-half times higher on industrial private land than on publicly owned forests, a new study found. Forests managed by timber companies were more l...

phys.org

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Reposted by Jacob Levine

David Sacerdote @davidsacerdote.bsky.social · Aug 20

Industrial logging is not the kind of selective thinning that lowers the risk of intense wildfires

www.sfchronicle.com/california-w...

The open-access paper, not linked in the news coverage, is here
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Does logging reduce wildfire danger? New California study finds key exception

Private timberlands in Northern California are more likely to see high-severity wildfire than areas in and around public forests, a new study found.

www.sfchronicle.com

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