Issues in forest restoration: Workforce needs of the four forest restoration initiative project: An analysis

Northern Arizona is home to the largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest in North America - spanning the Apache-Sitgreaves, Coconino, Kaibab, and Tonto national forests. This vast forest is part of a dry ecosystem that has always been subject to the powerful transformative forces of wildfire, in particular the thinning effects of low-intensity surface fires on pine seedlings and saplings. Suppression of natural fire began on a large scale at the turn of the last century, altering this natural process. As a result, stand density has increased exponentially since the settlement of the state. Recent wildfires, such as the Wallow and the Rodeo-Chediski, are fostered by these overgrown forest conditions