How a forest disappears: Conversion of forest to nonforest vegetation following wildfire

Silvia Kantor; Sean A. Parks; Jack Triepke; Kimberley T. Davis

Treesearch

How a forest disappears: Conversion of forest to nonforest vegetation following wildfire

Informally Refereed

Authors:

Silvia Kantor, Sean A. Parks, Jack Triepke, Kimberley T. Davis

Year:

2022

Type:

Science Bulletins and Newsletters

Station:

Rocky Mountain Research Station

Source:

Science You Can Use Bulletin, Issue 52. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 9 p.

Download (PDF 2.35 MB)

Download (PDF 2.35 MB): https://research.fs.usda.gov/download/treesearch/64780.pdf

Abstract

Scientists are seeing an increase in cases where forest resilience is pushed beyond a breaking point. Within the last few decades, wildfires in the western United States have increasingly burned so severely that some forests are unlikely to return to their prefire state and may convert to different forest types or even to nonforested systems like grassland or shrubland.

Keywords

Science You Can Use, SYCU, forest resilience, nonforest vegetation, wildfire

Citation

Kantor, Silvia; Parks, Sean; Triepke, Jack; Davis, Kimberley. 2022. How a forest disappears: Conversion of forest to nonforest vegetation following wildfire. Science You Can Use Bulletin, Issue 52. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 9 p.