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1. Widespread fuel accumulation in various strata is increasing the risk of high-severity, crown-fires. Knowing the vertical forest structure is a crucial factor for fire management planning. 2. Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors have successfully retrieved the main characteristics of the vertical structure of forests. However, detecting and vertically mapping the various fuel strata that can act as ladder fuels (i.e. fuel arrangements that will bring the fire from the surface to the canopy) is challenging and limits our ability to manage the most hazardous forests. 3. Here we...

This report provides a foundation for climate change response on the Arapaho- Roosevelt and Pike-San Isabel National Forests located along the Front Range and mountainous regions of Colorado. The preceding chapters outline the best available scientific information on the impacts of climate change on the Arapaho-Roosevelt and Pike-San Isabel National Forests. This vulnerability assessment supports national forest managers in meeting expectations to consider climate change in their work, including land management planning guided by the 2012 Planning Rule for implementing the National Forest...

Forests and woodlands are a vital component of the Colorado Front Range landscape. Occupying millions of acres, Front Range forests and woodlands support myriad species (Latif et al. 2020; Peet 1981; Simonson et al. 2001) and regulate geological, hydrological, and chemical processes (Bradford et al. 2008; Burns 2004; Troendle and King 1985). They also provide the people of the Front Range and beyond with ecosystem services ranging from timber, food, and water production to recreational opportunities (Clement and Cheng 2011).

Climate change has impacted terrestrial, freshwater, and ocean ecosystems across the globe changing disease dynamics, disturbance regimes, and nutrient cycling, resulting in the degradation of key ecosystem services (Cooley et al. 2022; Parmesan et al. 2022). Birds provide a diverse array of ecosystem services, including pest control, pollination, seed dispersal, and nutrient cycling (Sekercioğlu et al. 2004, 2006), and are of conservation concern due to human impacts on avian diversity and abundance (Gaston et al. 2003; Jetz et al. 2007; Rosenburg et al. 2019). Relative to other taxa,...

Climate-driven changes in environmental conditions and disturbance patterns have informed predictive models with expected distributional shifts of forest habitat types (Fornwalt et al. 2024) and myriad changes for vulnerable biophysical resources across ecosystems of the Front Range of Colorado (e.g., Colorado Parks and Wildlife 2015; Smith 2024; White 2024). Strategies for managing these forests adaptively in a changing climate are more likely to realize desired outcomes when decisions are based on relevant and current data (see Moir and Block 2001). Although natural resource monitoring...

Insects and diseases are major agents of change in forest ecosystems (Costello et al. 1995; Raffa et al. 2008). Their activities can result in scattered to extensive tree mortality across landscapes (Lundquist and Negrón 2000; Raffa et al. 2008). As natural components of forests, native insects, parasites, and pathogens contribute to shape forest structure and composition, contribute to nutrient cycling, and create habitat for wildlife species among other services (Negrón and Cain 2019). Innumerable species of insects, fungi, and other forms of life are part of the biological diversity of...

Wildfires are natural disturbances that are fundamental in many ecosystems of the United States. However, when they burn intensely in places where human infrastructure exists, wildfires can cause catastrophic damage. The Colorado Front Range exemplifies this tension between fire-adapted ecosystems and human development. The native vegetation throughout most of the Front Range evolved over millennia with fire as an important process driving vegetation composition and structure (Romme et al. 2003). But the Front Range has also been a highly desirable place to live since European-American...

Infrastructure refers to a collection of facilities and services, typically encompassing energy, water and wastewater, waste management, transportation, public health, food and agriculture, telecommunications, and banking (National Research Council 1993). Systems of public buildings, known as public works, contribute important governmental functions and may be incorporated as infrastructure. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service considers infrastructure to comprise structures and facilities for administrative, transportation, recreation, or special uses, such as dams and...

Ecosystem services, broadly defined, are the benefits humans get from nature. When first introduced, the phrase “ecosystem services” was meant to capture many of the benefits resource managers (and humans, in general) had largely ignored in economic analyses, such as purification of water and pollination of plants (Daily 1997). Managing for ecosystem services meant improving the condition of the natural system (i.e., natural capital) in a way that made it more likely that those services would be provided (Brown et al. 2007). Ecosystem services were initially held distinct from “ecosystem...

Millions of Americans enjoy recreating in the outdoors. In 2017, 49 percent of the United States (U.S.) population participated in at least one outdoor activity (Outdoor Foundation 2018). The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service (2017) estimates there were 148 million visits to national forests during fiscal year 2016. In 2018, there were more than 318.2 million visits to national parks (Ziesler 2019). Across all national park units in Colorado, recreation visits totaled more than 7.6 million in 2018, the largest proportion of which were to Rocky Mountain National Park in...