Huge thank you to all of the many folks that helped with this research – getting the first of my PhD papers (and my first, first author paper) wouldn’t be possible without amazing collaborators. #funfieldworkwithfriends [9/9]

Finally, we tested a novel approach to remotely sense peatland burn severity using only post-fire LiDAR. This highlights areas of deep burning (jackpots), which can aid in focusing fire management and restoration activities. [8/9]

Peatland margins are already at a greater risk for greater DOBs, but for the first time we analyzed the impact of drainage and peatland position on burn severity and found that drained margins experienced the greatest DOBs and peat carbon losses. [7/9]

Given that the afforestation feedback continues to dry out the peatland long after the initial impact of drainage we present a conceptual model outlining how the area around which a ditch has influence increases through time, increasing a the "peat fuel load" along with the increases in CFL. [6/9]

We found that canopy fuels and aboveground (tree) biomass are greater the closer you are to drainage ditches and that DOBs were greater where there was both greater AGBM and closer to ditches. [5/9]

But drainage in forested peatlands also initiates the afforestation feedback increases tree productivity, forest cover, and canopy fuels which causes further surface drying and shifts toward more flammable moss communities. [4/9]

Boreal peatlands are resistant to wildfire, but drainage causes ecohydrological shifts in peatlands which can lead to extreme depths of burn. Drainage dries the peat surface and increases peat decomposition, which both increase smouldering risks. [3/9]

The big take home message: drainage in forested peatlands increases the potential for extreme smouldering, which puts a strain on fire management, and presents health risks to communities and ecosystems. Restoration and fuel management should go hand in hand in drained boreal peatlands. [2/9]