Wildfires are a growing concern in northern Canada and Alaska as the climate changes and human population expands. To combat this, land managers remove flammable needle-leaved trees, like spruces and pines, in a variety of ways to protect people and property. However, we do not know how quickly these areas reforest or what types of trees grow back. If low-flammability trees like birch and aspen return, they would reduce communities’ wildfire risk while providing other ecosystem services. To get low-flammability trees to reforest these areas we could try planting, seeding, or adding fertilizer, but it is unclear how effective these approaches are. That said, models can help us make long-term projections of what grows back in a variety of fuel treatments, with and without planting, seeding, and fertilization, under a changing climate. Here, we studied how fuel treatment type, planting and seeding densities, soil fertility, and climate affect which trees reforest fuel treatments in Alaska by pairing a field experiment with century-long simulation models. Our results show that exposing mineral soil and planting and seeding at relatively low densities can effectively promote low-flammability trees. These results can help establish living fuel breaks and reduce wildfire risk in northern communities.