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Type: Journal Article
Author(s): Michael T. Stoddard; Andrew J. Sánchez Meador; Peter Z. Fulé; Julie E. Korb
Publication Date: 2015

Some warm/dry mixed-conifer forests are at increasing risk of uncharacteristically large, high-severity fires. As a result, managers have begun ecological restoration efforts using treatments such as mechanical thinning and prescribed fire. Empirical information on the long-term impacts of these treatments is limited, especially in light of potential climate change. We assessed changes in forest structure and composition five-years following three alternative restoration treatments in a warm/dry mixed-conifer forest: (1) thin/burn, (2) prescribe burn, and (3) control. We used the Climate-Forest Vegetation Simulator (Climate-FVS) model to quantify potential forest trajectories under alternative climate scenarios. Five years following treatments, changes in forest structure were similar to initial post-treatment conditions, with thin/burn being the only treatment to shift and maintain forest structure and composition within historical reference conditions. By 2013, the thin/burn had reduced basal area (11.3 m2 ha-1) and tree density (117.2 tree ha-1) by 56% and 79% respectively, compared to pre-treatment values. In the burn, basal area (20.5 m2 ha-1) and tree density (316.6 tree ha-1) was reduced by 20% and 35% respectively, from 2002 to 2013. Mortality of large ponderosa pine trees (the most fire-resistant species) throughout the duration of the experiment, averaged 6% in the burn compared to 16% in the thin/burn treatment. Changes five years following treatments were largely due to increases in sprouting species. Shrub and sapling densities were approximately two to three times higher (respectively) in the thin/burn compared to burn and control and dominated by sprouting oak and aspen. Under climate simulations, the thin/burn was more resilient in maintaining forest conditions compared to burn and control which approached meager forest conditions (3-4 m2 ha-1). These results indicate that restoration treatment that include both thinning and burning can maintain forest integrity over the next few decades.

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Citation: Stoddard, Michael T.; Sánchez Meador, Andrew; Fulé, Peter Z.; Korb, Julie E. 2015. Five-year post-restoration conditions and simulated climate-change trajectories in a warm/dry mixed-conifer forest, southwestern Colorado, USA. Forest Ecology and Management 356:253-261.

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Keywords:
  • climate change
  • Climate-FVS
  • Colorado
  • coniferous forests
  • ecological restoration
  • fire intensity
  • fire management
  • fire potential
  • fire resistant plants
  • forest management
  • forest structure
  • FVS - Forest Vegetation Simulator
  • historic reference conditions
  • national forests
  • Pinus ponderosa
  • ponderosa pine
  • thinning
Tall Timbers Record Number: 32026Location Status: Not in fileCall Number: AvailableAbstract Status: Fair use, Okay, Reproduced by permission
Record Last Modified:
Record Maintained By: FRAMES Staff (https://www.frames.gov/contact)
FRAMES Record Number: 21306

This bibliographic record was either created or modified by Tall Timbers and is provided without charge to promote research and education in Fire Ecology. The E.V. Komarek Fire Ecology Database is the intellectual property of Tall Timbers.
This document is part of the Southwest FireCLIME Annotated Bibliography, which includes published research related to the interactions between climate change, wildfire, and subsequent ecosystem effects in the southwestern U.S. The publications contained in the Bibliography have each been summarized to distill the outcomes as they pertain to fire and climate. Go to this document's record in the Southwest FireCLIME Annotated Bibliography.