Ponderosa pine in the Colorado Front Range: long historical fire and tree recruitment intervals and a case for landscape heterogeneity

M. R. Kaufmann; Laurie Huckaby; P. Gleason

Treesearch

Ponderosa pine in the Colorado Front Range: long historical fire and tree recruitment intervals and a case for landscape heterogeneity

Informally Refereed

Authors:

M. R. Kaufmann, Laurie Huckaby, P. Gleason

Year:

2000

Type:

Miscellaneous Publication

Station:

Rocky Mountain Research Station

Source:

In: Neuenschwander, Leon F.; Ryan, Kevin C., tech. eds. Proceedings from the Joint Fire Science Conference and Workshop: Crossing the Millennium: Integrating spatial technologies and ecological principles for a new age in fire management; Boise, Idaho, June 15-17, 1999. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho: 153-160.

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Abstract

An unlogged forest landscape in the Colorado Front Range provides insight into historical characteristics of ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir landscapes where the past fire regime was mixed severity with mean fire intervals of 50 years or more. Natural fire and tree recruitment patterns resulted in considerable spatial and temporal heterogeneity, whereas nearby forest landscapes impacted by logging, grazing, and fire suppression are much more homoge neous. The historical landscape characteristics serve as a guide for restoration of current landscape conditions to improve ecological sustainability and mitigate wildfire and postfire erosion risks.

Keywords

fire history, tree recruitment, historical ecology, landscape scale processes

Citation

Kaufmann, M. R.; Huckaby, L. S.; Gleason, P. 2000. Ponderosa pine in the Colorado Front Range: long historical fire and tree recruitment intervals and a case for landscape heterogeneity. In: Neuenschwander, Leon F.; Ryan, Kevin C., tech. eds. Proceedings from the Joint Fire Science Conference and Workshop: Crossing the Millennium: Integrating spatial technologies and ecological principles for a new age in fire management; Boise, Idaho, June 15-17, 1999. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho: 153-160.