First the Lodgepoles, Now the Aspens

The U.S. Forest Service estimates about 15 percent of Colorado?EUR??,,????'?????<

 

The U.S. Forest Service reports that hundreds of thousands of acres of aspens in Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and into Canada are dying.

The aspen die-off comes on the heels of a pine-beetle invasion that has destroyed millions of mature lodgepole pines in Colorado. One theory behind the lodgepole demise is warmer winter temperatures the last couple of years have allowed beetles to thrive. Logging restrictions have also propogated a super abundance of lodgepoles, which happens to be the favorite food of the beetles.

An aerial forest survey of Colorado by the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station in 2008 estimated about 15 percent of the state's aspens are dying. Why the aspens are struggling is a mystery. One theory is Colorado and Utah have experienced years of drought, which could stress the aspens and make them more vulnerable to disease.

When aspens struggle, they produce new shoots (suckers). However, in southwest Colorado, it was observed that new shoot growth was also dying. (Elk like to eat the shoots, also.) This phenomenon has been dubbed “sudden aspen decline.”

Aspen and lodgepole pines live in the Rockies at elevation of 5,000 to 8,000 feet. The dying or dead trees are of course concern for tendering forest fires, but are also habitat for many critters.

Curiously, the aspens in Aspen seem to be doing quite well.