Forest management effects on vegetation regeneration after a high severity wildfire: A case study in the southern Cascade range

•Consistent detection of vegetation recovery using field surveys and NDVI.•All areas returned to pre-fire levels of vegetation cover as estimated by NDVI analysis, but vegetation community composition changed.•All areas that burned at a high severity during the Reading Fire regenerated to dense shrublands.•Areas with a history of fire exclusion plus timber harvest had low sapling recovery compared with unharvested areas.•Only active restoration recovered a mixed-conifer composition.