Manitou Experimental Forest

The Manitou Experimental Forest lies roughly 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Colorado Springs, Colorado, within the Pike National Forest. Established in 1936, Manitou’s 16,700 acres (6,758 ha) straddle the Trout Creek watershed, a tributary of the South Platte River, and includes multiple forest and ecosystem types. Early research at Manitou focused on range and forest watershed management, but later shifted to focus on ponderosa pine forest ecology, disturbance, and management. Today, researchers are studying a variety meteorological, hydrological, ecological, and management questions at Manitou. The U.S. Forest Service has conducted much of this research in partnership with other federal agencies, academic institutions and non-governmental organizations, including the U.S. Geological Survey, four major Colorado universities, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

Manitou Experimental Forest has a unique history. Dr. William Bell, an English physician and Colorado pioneer, originally owned the Manitou Park area contained within Manitou Experimental Forest. Bell pursued several enterprises on the property, including logging, ranching, resort hotels, and a trout farm, none of which were very successful. He later sold some of his holdings to General Palmer who, combined with some of his own holdings, trusted the land to Colorado College to establish a school of forestry and to use the land as a forestry field camp. After Colorado College closed its forestry school, the Forest Service created Manitou Experimental Forest in 1936 from the donated land, as well as from surrounding National Forest System land and other purchased properties. As a result, the Manitou contains more than 100 private holdings within its borders, including a major housing subdivision occupying more than 702 acres (284 ha). As part of Pike National Forest, Manitou is a perfect example of a multi-use property, with uses that include scientific research, timber production and a variety of outdoor recreational activities.  

Please view the Manitou Experimental Forest Historical Timeline for more information.

Climate 

Manitou has a relatively cool and dry climate. The area usually receives 15.6 inches (39.6 centimeters) of annual precipitation, 70% of which falls during the growing season (April through August). Summer temperatures can reach to 90 °F, but nights are cool. Summer thunderstorms can be intense, with large amounts of rainfall and lightning. Many trees are scarred by lightning. Although winter temperatures can fall below 0°F, midday January temperatures often hover around 50°F. Winter snowfall is typically light, without a snowpack in many years.  

Vegetation

The experimental forest is representative of the montane ponderosa pine zone in the Front Range, which extends from southern Wyoming to northern New Mexico. Ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, and aspen grow above roughly 8,000 feet (2,400 meters) in elevation. Lodgepole pine grows at higher elevations on the eastern boundary of the forest. Engelmann spruce and blue spruce grow in the wetter areas.  Manitou also includes grassland meadows, willow fields along streams, and sagebrush.

Soils

Soils come from the weakly structured Pikes Peak granite and are highly erodible. Most soils are poor, consisting of gravelly course material, rock outcrops, with little organic matter except in riparian areas.

Elevation

Elevations range from about 7,500 to 9,300 feet (2,300 to 2,800 meters).

Hydrology

Manitou experimental forest straddles the Trout Creek watershed (a tributary of the South Platte River) and also includes Manitou Lake (a small reservoir with high levels of recreational activity).  

Manitou has excellent facilities that are available for research and educational purposes. Most of the buildings were constructed in the late 1930s by the Works Progress Administration out of locally quarried stone and are listed on the National (and Colorado) Register of Historic Places. Quarters buildings available to researchers include a large lodge (16 beds), a house (7 beds), and a bunkhouse (4 beds) (available for a nominal fee). The lodge also has a great room that can be used by researchers for meetings of up to 45 people. Other buildings include an office/laboratory, two large garages, and a partially enclosed barn. A concrete pad with RV hookups and an officially designated helipad completes the headquarters facilities. 

Contact Site Manager Steve Alton for information about reserving facilities at Manitou. 

If you have made arrangements to stay at any of the quarters buildings, or otherwise work at Manitou, please check-in at the office. The office is the building to your left as you enter the headquarters area. 

Driving Directions and Parking Map

Manitou Experimental Forest 
232 County Road 79 
Woodland Park, Colorado 80863 
(719) 687-3034

Current Research

Today, research at Manitou explores ponderosa pine ecosystems, the disturbance regimes active within them, and ways to best manage these urban-interface forests. Researchers are evaluating forest management techniques to restore fire-dependent forests to a healthy condition. Studies also include fire history, fuels assessment, quantifying soil heat fluxes during prescribed burning under a spectrum of fuel loadings, insect and bird biology, dwarf mistletoe ecology, and a major effort to assess human values and preferences in urban-wildland interface forests.

Ongoing research initiatives:

Meteorological Research

• BEACHON Project—This project, run by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), explores the bio-hydro-atmosphere interactions of energy, aerosols, carbon, water, organics, and nitrogen
• National Atmospheric Deposition Program
• Wind turbulence studies

Forest Ecology Research

• Precipitation manipulation studies
• Ecological effects of fuels treatments
• Long-term silviculture study
• Hayman Fire hydrology
• Recovery of understory vegetation after the Hayman Fire

Wildlife Biology Research

• Long-Term Flammulated Owl Study: Brian Linkhart, a professor at Colorado College, manages a long-term study of flammulated owls in the Manitou Experimental Forest and the Colorado Front Range.
• Long-term pollinator study
• Foodweb studies

See An annotated bibliography of scientific literature on research and management activities conducted in Manitou Experimental Forest for more details on Manitou EF research.

Research Infrastructure

Research Tower: Manitou has a 150’ walkup tower near the main compound with 2 labs and 2 storage units at the base. The tower facilities are tied into the grid and can support atmospheric sensors and equipment.

Headquarters Weather Station:  Temperature and precipitation has been recorded since 1936.

Other research facilities: Wet lab, office space, shop/storage space, and headquarters-wide WiFi 

Research Opportunities

Manitou’s location and composition of ownership parcels makes it ideal for studies of wildland-urban interface interactions, recreational values, and land management effects on water quality delivered to urban areas. A major state highway cuts through the experimental forest, and Manitou is close to the Denver and Colorado Springs metropolitan areas. Manitou contains and is adjacent to several picnic and campground areas administered by the Pikes Peak Ranger District. The experimental forest also contains several small, private inholdings, as well as a major housing subdivision that occupies more than 700 acres (2.8 square kilometers).

Rocky Mountain Research Station scientists, university partners, and scientists from other agencies conduct research at Manitou. Manitou welcomes collaborative research opportunities that fit within the overall research goals of the Rocky Mountain Research Station and are compatible with other ongoing research at Manitou.  All research at Manitou Experimental Forest requires an approved study plan, regardless of type, extent, duration, or impact.  

Data collected at Manitou for use in any publication or product must be submitted to the Forest Service Research Data Archive for a data DOI (how to submit data). It is routine professional ethics to acknowledge Rocky Mountain Research Station, Manitou Experimental Forest, and the efforts of collaborating Forest Service scientists and staff in any subsequent publications. Please also forward subsequent publications to RMRS collaborator.

Contact Scientist-in-charge Paula Fornwalt for more information on research opportunities, setting up a study plan, or archiving data collected at Manitou Experimental Forest 

Multiple long-term datasets are available for use in research. The Experimental Forest and Range network encourages re-use of data from among its collaborators. We also recognize that it is important for scientists to receive proper credit for the contribution their data make to other projects. Thus, the data user must properly cite the data publication in any other publications or in the metadata of any derived products developed using the data (Conditions of Use). Long-term monitoring data and datasets are described below.

• Temperature and Precipitation: There are temperature and precipitation records for the headquarters weather station since 1937. Continuous hourly temperature, precipitation, and wind and soil temperature data have been available in electronic format since 1998. 
• Streamflow monitoring: 3 HOBO monitoring devises are currently deployed – one above Manitou Lake, one below the lake, and one on Trout Creek. 
• A National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NAPD) collection site has been on the Manitou for more than 20 years and a NOAA satellite weather station has been located at headquarters for a number of years. Precipitation chemistry includes: Volume, conduction, Ca, Mg, K, na, NH4, NO3, Cl, SO4. Access the data for Manitou, Site CO21 on the NAPD website.
• Long-term (30-year) growth records for ponderosa pine plots thinned to various stocking levels are also available. Seedfall records from shelterwood and seed-tree overstory plots, natural seedling germination and survival, and growth and survival data for planted trees are available from 1981 to 2001. Unfortunately, this study burned in the Hayman Fire of June 2002.

Data for Manitou Experimental Forest available through the USFS Research Data Archive

• Manitou Experimental Forest hourly meteorology data 
• 2008-2014 Soil temperature, thermal conductivity, water content, CO2, and pressure at the Manitou Experimental Forest, Colorado during the Bio-hydro-atmosphere interactions of Energy, Aerosols, Carbon, H2O, Organics & Nitrogen (BEACHON) study
• Data and modeling and graphics source code for "The challenges of an in situ validation of a nonequilibrium model of heat and moisture dynamics during fires"
• Effects of fuels reduction treatments on the soil temperature, heat-flux, water content, and CO2 at Manitou Experimental Forest
• MATLAB data and code used to assess different models describing how atmospheric pressure, soil heating and soil moisture dynamics influence the exchange of trace gases between the atmosphere and the soil