Colorado Statewide Forest Resource Assessment

Human uses of aspen forests include cattle and sheep grazing, recreation,hunting and harvesting of wood products. Aspen is a preferred species forpaneling, veneer products such as matchsticks and chopsticks, fi berboard,excelsior, animal bedding and decorative gifts (Mackes and Lynch 2001).Colorado’s aspen forests also provide essential wildlife habitat and aresecond only to riparian areas in terms of biodiversity richness. Along withtheir keystone wildlife species, the beaver, aspen forests are particularlyimportant to cavity-nesting woodpeckers and songbirds, birds of prey andgamebirds. Aspen forests in the southern Rocky Mountains are one of theonly remaining places where purple martins use natural nesting habitat ratherthan nest boxes for breeding. Seventeen of Colorado’s Species of GreatestConservation Need rely on aspen forests as their primary habitat (CDOW2006). The CDOW identifi es habitat degradation due to altered fi re regimes asa threat to wildlife that rely on aspen.Lodgepole PineLodgepole pine forests cover slightly more than 1.5 million acres in Coloradoor approximately 7 percent of the state’s forested lands. The USFS managesmore than three-quarters of Colorado’s lodgepole pine; only 13 percentis in private ownership. The lodgepole pine type is widespread between8,000 and 10,000 feet in elevation and generally occurs on gentle to steepslopes in Colorado’s northern and central mountains. 13 Lodgepole pineforests grow and die uniformly. Most of Colorado’s lodgepole pine forestsdeveloped following hot, stand-replacing crown fi res (CSFS 2008). The prolifi cregeneration that naturally occurs in the open, sunny areas left in the fi re’swake often results in dense stands of 20,000 or more trees per acre. Theseforests often are referred to as dog-hair stands.Lodgepole pine forests blanket many landscapes tied to Colorado’s watersupply and provide the back-drop for popular recreational activities such asskiing, hiking and biking. In the late 19 th century, much of Colorado’s demandfor railroad ties was supplied by lodgepole pine forests, which still provide arange of wood products, including house logs, structural lumber, log furniture,decking, telephone poles and structural plywood (CSFS 2006). Plant andanimal diversity tends to be relatively low in lodgepole pine forests, but theydo provide important cover for mule deer, elk, black bear and a variety of birdsand small mammals. Sixteen of the state’s Species of Greatest ConservationNeed, including Canada lynx, signifi cantly rely on lodgepole pine forests(CDOW 2006).In Colorado and throughout much of the Rockies, lodgepole pine forests areexperiencing a severe and widespread epidemic of mountain pine beetle.Tree mortality from the beetle currently covers nearly 2 million acres, whichincludes virtually all of the state’s mature lodgepole pine in addition to otherforest types. Although the mountain pine beetle is a native insect that isalways present at endemic levels, the size and severity of this outbreak maybe unprecedented and has caused tremendous concern relative to publicsafety and essential infrastructure. It is unknown whether a large-scalebark beetle epidemic such as this current epidemic previously occurred inColorado.13For more information on Colorado’s lodgepole pine forests, see the CSFS 2006 Report on the Health of Colorado’sForests and 2008 Report: The Health of Colorado’s Forests available online at http://csfs.colostate.edu/pages/pub-csfs2.html. See the References section for complete citations.9