How long does a forest take to recover from a wildfire?

How quickly a forest recovers from a fire depends a lot on how intense the fire was. A low intensity fire “burns along the forest floor and leaves the canopies alive”. A high intensity fire will often cause enough damage that trees will die due to “cambium damage”.

Cambium damage refers to destruction of the “thin layer of vascular tissue, which is vital to movement of water and nutrients”. Recovery from fire damage caused to the forest floor and to the trees, plants, insects, and more is long lasting and may take years or decades. There is no defined or average length of time because often the time can be impacted by human intervention.