Mulching machines for pre-commercial thinning and fuel reduction
Abstract
Wildfires in the western United States and Florida over the last several years have highlighted the vulnerability of dense overstocked stands to fire. As a result, landowners, land managers, and researchers alike are interest ed in methods to reduce hazardous fuels in forest stands. Mechanical reduction of under-story and mid-story fuels by mulching or chipping is an option for reducing stand density to allow the reintroduction of prescribed fire into forest stands.