A shaded fuel break is a  forest management strategy used to mitigate wildfire threat in areas where natural fire regimes have been suppressed, leading to a dangerous buildup of combustible vegetation.

Construction of the fuel break involves manually  thinning and removing more flammable understory vegetation while leaving the majority of larger, more fire tolerant tree species in place.

Objective:

• Reduce duration and intensity of fire, reduce fuel ignitability, and prevent wildfire spreading from the surface of the ground to the canopy.
• Installation of a shaded fuel break can reduce fire intensity by eliminating ladder fuels.

Ladder fuels are small trees and brush that could carry fire from the ground into the canopy of trees.