Colorado Statewide Forest Resource Assessment

Map 12 – Tamarisk and ForestsData Gaps:• Need more fi ne-scale data, preferably 30-meter data, on the locationof noxious weeds in Colorado so that a determination can bemade about how those species intersect with forests and wheremanagement could be most effectively applied.Climate Change Overview: Recent studies suggest that climate change isaffecting Colorado and other western states more than any other part of theUnited States, except Alaska. When compared to the 20 th century average,the West has experienced an average temperature increase during the last5 years that is 70-percent greater than the world as a whole (Saunders andothers 2008). Scientists already are seeing the effects of changing weatherpatterns and extreme events on the region’s forests. Many of the most urgentforest management problems of the past 20 years, including increased wildfi reseverity and scale, extensive insect and disease infestations and changingwater regimes have, in part, been driven by climate change (USFS 2008). InColorado, scientists have attributed such events as the record-setting 2002wildfi re season, the current mountain pine beetle epidemic and sudden aspendecline to the impacts of a changing climate. The Colorado Division of Wildlifeidentifi ed climate change as a threat to high-elevation habitats, includingspruce-fi r forests, and bristlecone and limber pine (CDOW 2006).While some forest ecosystems and species may adapt rapidly enough tomaintain viability and productivity, many are expected to experience changethat will exceed their capacity to migrate or adapt. The IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change recently stated that “mountainous ecosystems arevirtually certain to experience the most severe ecological impacts from climate37