What remains after wildfire here on the wet westside?

by the University of Washington, College of the Environment
January 8, 2026

New research out of the Harvey Lab and conducted by recent PhD graduate Jenna Morris builds foundational understanding of the effects of fire in wet temperate forests like the ones here on the westside of Washington state, building essential understanding of fire effects in forests shaped by infrequent and high-severity fires.

Fire is a natural part of all forest ecosystems—even on the wet westside—and every one of us in the Pacific Northwest is affected by wildfire, from direct threats to homes and livelihoods and exposure to smoke, to the destruction of the areas where we like to recreate. 

Forests in western Washington and northwestern Oregon (“northwestern Cascadia”) are among the most productive in the world, boasting large amounts of biomass (live and dead vegetation) that support many cultural, ecological, and economic services. On top of this, these forests are prone to large, fast-moving and severe wildfires. Given that Western Washington is also home to nearly 80 percent of the state’s population, current and existing fire management strategies that work to combat and mitigate wildfire on the eastside of the state may not be as effective on the westside. 

When forest fires occur on the westside they represent a crucial opportunity to address research priorities for anticipating effects of future change on forest dynamics. Associate Professor Brian Harvey, his lab group, scientists Dan Donato and Josh Halofsky at the Washington DNR, and a large group of collaborators at land management agencies have been collecting field data across recent fires in the northwest Cascades. Key to this research is a constellation of plots in larger fires including the 2017 Norse Peak and Eagle Creek fires, and some of the Labor Day fires that occurred in 2020: Big Hollow (near Stevenson, WA), Riverside (near Estacada, OR) and Lionshead (near Detroit, OR). 

For her PhD research, Morris and her team measured live and dead vegetation 2-5 years after these fires to examine the drivers of two important post-fire legacies: carbon and fuels. The 95 plots that her team surveyed, included data points from:

• Young forests (~30–50 yrs) – planted following clearcutting in the mid-1900s 
• Mid-seral forests (~120–150 yrs) – originated from fire or clearcutting after Euro-American settlement in the late 1800s 
• Late-seral / old-growth forests (~160–500+ yrs) – originated from fire prior to Euro-American settlement 

The plots also included forests burned at varying levels of severity. We sat down with Morris and Associate Professor Brian Harvey to discuss the findings of the study, its implications and what it means for the future of wildfire here on the wet westside. 

Keep reading: https://sefs.uw.edu/2026/01/whats-the-future-of-wildfire-here-on-the-wet-westside/

Read the Ecosphere paper: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.70479