Treesearch

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...

The Rocky Mountain Region of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service requested a climate change vulnerability assessment from Rocky Mountain Research Station in support of future forest plan revision for the Pike-San Isabel National Forests (PSI) and Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forests (AR) in the Rocky Mountain Region. Iterative conversations among the Rocky Mountain Research Station, the PSI and AR National Forests, and the Rocky Mountain Region identified management concerns for high-priority resources that were used to frame a scientist-manager workshop and this climate...

Climate change presents many challenges for ecosystems, biodiversity, and ecosystem services, particularly in combination with non-climate stressors. Progressive warming, variable precipitation, and more frequent extreme weather events produce changes in ecosystem structure and function, species distribution and abundance, and productivity (IPCC 2021; Lipton et al. 2018). Climate change affects natural resources and interacts with disturbances, such as fire, and non-climate stressors, such as habitat loss, to sometimes generate synergistic effects (Coristine and Kerr 2011). However,...

This chapter provides a summary of the climate change analysis done for Colorado’s Front Range forests that include the Pike-San Isabel and Arapaho-Roosevelt (PSIAR) National Forests. This analysis includes assessment of historical climate trends and future climate projections by 2050. Because of the wide range of future climate projections simulated by global climate models, four divergent future climate scenarios were selected to incorporate that large range and to quantify plausible future climate scenarios for PSI-AR. Following sections provide information on the (1) data and approaches...

The Colorado Front Range is the meeting of the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains, a nexus of great topographic, geologic, and atmospheric forces. As water collects in the mountains and moves to the deserts and plains, it fosters unique ecosystems, some of which support rare and sensitive species. This water also creates opportunities and challenges for a growing metro area, fuels the recreational activities of residents and visitors, and supports an expansive agricultural industry. A complex system of ditches, pipelines, reservoirs, and transbasin diversions has been constructed to meet...