The historic 2020 fire year in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming: A landscape assessment to inform post-fire forest management

Abstract

Wildfire activity is increasing throughout forests of the western United States, in large part due to the effects of a warming climate. The 2020 fire year in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming is a particularly striking example - several of the largest fires on record in this region (i.e., since the early 1900s) occurred in 2020. Many of these fires burned in high-elevation forests, an uncommon occurrence over the past century, and several burned well into the fall and winter due to atypically warm, dry conditions. Like the 2002 Hayman Fire and other recent events in the region, the 2020 fires may drive conversions from forests to grasslands or shrublands, and cause associated changes to ecosystem services. Such changes in ecosystems may not be desirable for landowners, land managers, or other stakeholders, motivating potential management intervention. After fire, reforestation is a key management strategy that can help to accelerate forest recovery. However, reforestation is expensive and time-consuming, and may not be feasible, successful, or desirable everywhere. Assessments of post-fire landscape conditions may help to plan management efforts and allocate reforestation resources following the 2020 wildfires. To address this need, we used spatial data, together with statistical models developed from westwide surveys of post-fire tree regeneration, to conduct a post-fire landscape assessment for areas affected by five 2020 wildfires - the Calwood, Cameron Peak, East Troublesome, Mullen, and Williams Fork. This assessment was guided by the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework, an emerging paradigm that helps to navigate uncertainties and potential management approaches across diverse landscapes.

Citation

Rodman, Kyle C.; Davis, Kimberley T.; Chambers, Marin E.; Chapman, Teresa B.; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Hart, Sarah J.; Marshall, Laura A.E.; Rhoades, Charles C.; Schloegel, Catherine A.; Stevens-Rumann, Camille S.; Veblen, Thomas T. 2022. The historic 2020 fire year in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming: A landscape assessment to inform post-fire forest management. Southwest Ecological Restoration Institutes (SWERI). 29 p.