GAP Restoration Project

Fire history studies show that dry, pine and oak-dominant sites in the southern Blue Ridge Mountains burned, on average, every 5-7 years. Wetter, or more mesic, sites also burned regularly, with fire frequency averages around every 10-15 years. Throughout the last century, we've seen a trend towards longer, more severe dry periods and many of our forests have undergone a period of fire exclusion, disrupting their natural disturbance cycle. Combined, these factors have led to an unprecedented build-up of fuel for wildfires and less resilient forests.

The human population growth and interest in western North Carolina means there is a higher likelihood of human-caused fire ignition and higher risk to visitors and local communities if a wildfire starts. Some people believe wildfire is an issue only in the western U.S., but during drought conditions in 2016, there were 383 wildfires in western NC that burned more than 63,000 acres. More recently, dry conditions in the fall of 2023 contributed to several large fires on our National Forests and across the region, including the 2,000-acre Black Bear Fire on the Appalachian Ranger District, which burned close to I-40, affecting visitors and local communities.

Maintaining healthy forests and keeping communities safe means working across boundaries. The U.S. Forest Service has been working with state and federal agencies, private landowners, and non-profits to identify shared goals and take what we call an "all-lands approach". We've developed the priorities, Areas of Interest (AOIs), and targeted treatments in the GAP Project through a collaborative partnership called the  Pisgah Restoration Initiative (PRI)  .

PRI includes individuals, non-profit organizations, state, local, and federal agencies. They received funding through the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program and plan to work together over the next 10 years.

The GAP Project has also been an opportunity for co-stewardship with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) on their ancestral homelands. EBCI has been involved since the early stages of the project, incorporating Traditional Ecological Knowledge into the Proposed Action.

Scientists from the Southern Research station have also been involved in the GAP project to ensure we use the best science available and that we are improving forest health with adaptive management techniques.

Working collaboratively is a key concept in the Forest Plan that was finalized in 2023. Through working with partners and the Pisgah Restoration Initiative, we've identified the following needs that the GAP Project addresses:

• Forest restoration through improving species composition, ecological processes, function, and structure. This includes recruiting native, fire-adapted species (e.g., oak, hickory and southern yellow pine) in areas of the forest where they should be supported.
• Reduce intensity of wildfire by restoring and maintaining open forest or woodland structure in our most fire-adapted areas (i.e., Shortleaf Pine-Oak, Pine-Oak Heath, and Dry Oak, Dry-Mesic Oak stands).
• Improve species health and increase regeneration of under-represented species in more mesic fire-adapted forests (High Elevation Red Oak and Mesic Oak Ecozones).
• Coordinate with local, state, federal, and non-government organizations to support private landowners and local communities in meeting their wildfire risk reduction goals.