Reducing Wildfire Risks One Tree at a Time

As we face evolving wildfire threats, there are a number of important measures that communities, as well as home and business owners, can take to prevent and mitigate their risks. Jad Daley, President and CEO of American Forests, and Michael Klein, President of Personal Insurance at Travelers, joined us for an in-depth look at wildfire risk with a special focus on forests. This session explored the role of science-informed reforestation, creating defensible space and related measures as important components in a comprehensive approach to reducing wildfire risk. We also explored safety and insurance insights related to trees on your property and discussed the innovative partnership between Travelers and American Forests. 

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What did we learn? Here are the top takeaways from Reducing Wildfire Risks One Tree at a Time:

Trees provide a host of benefits, starting with cleaner air and water. “Our forests are an amazing filtration system,” Daley said. U.S. forests capture more than 17 million metric tons of air pollution every year, and over half of drinking water supplies come from forests in some areas, he said. Beyond clean air and water, forest products support jobs and the manufacturing economy, he said, adding that over 80% of wildlife species live in forests, and National Forests get 160 million visits a year. “The health of our forests is the health of our ecosystems and biodiversity,” he said. “Our forests are this gift that keeps on giving, and how we help them to become healthy and resilient in the face of wildfire is pivotal for keeping all those benefits flowing to our society.”

Travelers is committed to growing the benefit of trees. Every time a personal lines insurance customer chooses paperless billing, Travelers funds the planting or conservation of a tree, Klein said. “It’s a great win-win. It’s a win for the environment because the tree gets planted. It’s a win for American Forests because it advances their goals and objectives. It’s a win for us because we save the money of printing the paper and sending it out. And it’s a win for the customer because it’s part of a better digital customer experience,” he said. More recently, we have committed to fund the planting of a tree for every redemption through our perks program, Travantage^TM, he said, adding that in the unfortunate situation that a customer passes away, we fund the planting of a memorial tree in their honor. Both Travelers and American Forests are part of a global coalition, 1t.org, committed to a goal of 1 trillion trees planted, conserved and restored by 2030.

Our forests are in danger, as wildfire risks increase and expand beyond the western United States. “The scale of wildfire has changed,” Daley said. Over the past few decades, the extent of wildfire has more than doubled across the western U.S. and more so in California, and the threat is spreading across the U.S. and Canada, he said. “The risk and the threat of wildfire is extending into places that in the past we thought we didn’t need to manage for wildfire resilience,” he said, adding that the intensity of wildfires also has increased, leaving our forests more intensively damaged and less likely to recover. “As a result, we have a lot more land that we need to actively restore and reforest after wildfire,” he said.

A holistic, data-driven approach can create resilient forests. It’s important to take a holistic approach that looks at what to do before, during and after wildfires, Daley said, adding that much of the focus has historically been placed on the “during” phase. Before a wildfire occurs, it’s important to identify areas where dead, dying and dried-out trees make a forest more likely to ignite and to strategically thin those areas, he said. During a wildfire, it’s crucial to use a data-driven, scientific approach to decide where allowing a fire to burn could be beneficial and where it could be catastrophic. And after a wildfire, it’s key to reforest severely burned areas that may otherwise not regrow within our lifetimes using a climate-informed approach to avoid future catastrophic wildfires, he said. “There’s been a wonderful effort at play to dramatically ramp up things like prescribed burning and thinning forests to keep them healthy, in balance and ready for wildfire in the right ways,” he said.

Trees are essential for our planet, but their placement near homes requires careful consideration. From a climate perspective, trees can help reduce your energy consumption and cooling costs when they provide your home with shade, but from a wildfire protection standpoint, they can pose a fire safety risk if proper care isn’t taken to ensure they are a safe distance from your home, explained Klein. “Broadly speaking, large trees next to the home are a challenge for a variety of reasons, and that’s why we sometimes advise policyholders to cut branches that could fall on the home or become ignition sources and to plant trees farther away from the home,” he said. American Forests offers a How to Plant a Tree resource with information about how to select the right trees for the goals of homeowners or communities, Daley said.

Small changes can go a long way toward creating wildfire-resilient homes and yards. The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety offers a guide to creating a wildfire-resistant yard and a guide to home upgrades that anyone can use, including insurance agents who can share them with policyholders, noted Klein. He gave examples, including:

• Installing ember- and flame-resistant vents
• Choosing noncombustible gutters and downspouts
• Creating and maintaining a five-foot home ignition zone, including the removal of brush and replacement of combustible fencing within this area
• Choosing a Class A fire-rated roof and keeping it clear of debris

“We need to take care of our own backyards,” Daley stressed. “But we all need to think about ourselves as champions and voices for supporting those larger actions that are also part of the total equation that we need for wildfire resilience in our country.”

The U.S. government is using public policy to address the wildfire crisis. American Forests worked with a bipartisan group of lawmakers to pass the REPLANT Act, which gives the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service a five-to-tenfold permanent increase in funding to catch up and keep up on reforesting a backlog of more than 3.6 million acres of burned and degraded lands, Daley said. American Forests is participating in the complex process, which involves assessing the sites, choosing the right naturally wildfire-resistant trees and planting them at the proper density, he said. “This isn’t just about grabbing a bunch of trees and running out there and replanting,” Daley said. “We have to change the way we reforest these lands so they don’t burn catastrophically again.” For more information on reforestation, the online tool Reforestation Hub offers 148 million acres of reforestation opportunities across America.

For more information, stay connected with American Forests.