Treatment: maintain RELATIVELY UNCHANGED CONDITIONS OVER TIME
Desired Future Conditions
The goal of this treatment is to maintain the current conditions such as species composition and general stand structure as possible, while reducing the site’s tree density. This includes retaining the species composition (except for mature Abies lasiocarpa (subalpine fir)), surface fuels and snags, and disturbance regimes for high-elevation spruce-fir forests.
Conceptual diagram of the Resistance – Resilience – Transition (RRT) framework applied to the ASCC Network, positioned vertically along a spectrum of ecological persistence to change (i.e., adaptation). The y-axis presents the degree of alignment with current conditions relative to the future range of acceptable outcomes (i.e., desired future conditions). Graphic by Kailey Marcinkowski, Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science.
Management Goals
Colorado State Forest. Photo Credit: Courtney Peterson, Colorado State University.
Build resistance to windthrow, beetles, and drought by limiting tree mortality
Reducing stand density can reduce the physical stress on tress which can then help build resistance to windthrow, drought, and beetles
Promote tree vigor and release, increase wind firmness, and remove dead trees
Provide ecosystem services, including wood products, watershed health, recreation opportunities, carbon sequestration potential, and cultural resources
Provide lynx habitat (need some large trees)
Maintain aesthetics / recreation value
Strategies & approaches
A visit to the Colorado State Forest ASCC site. Photo Credit: Courtney Peterson, Colorado State University.
Mechanical thinning to remove dead trees, trees with mistletoe, and some green trees
Release cut to reduce stand density and encourage advance regeneration
Alter species proportions through favoring healthy spruce and lodgepole
Create surface fuels for soil moisture retention and surface roughness (20-35 tons/acre)
Maintenance of snags for wildlife use by keeping at least four per acre with a DBH greater than or equal 10 inches for Picea engelmannii (Engelmann spruce) and subalpine fir, and a DBH greater than 8 inches for Pinus contorta (lodgepole pine)
Blair Rynearson, Zach Wehr, Carolina Manriquez, and John Twitchell from the Colorado State Forest Service are the site managers helping lead the Colorado State Forest ASCC Project. Mike Battaglia (Rocky Mountain Research Station) and Ethan Bucholz (Colorado State Forest Service) are scientists helping lead the research efforts for the site.
Key collaborators include Marin Chambers (Colorado Forest Restoration Institute) and Lance Asherin (USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, RMRS), Paula Fornwalt (USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, RMRS), Chuck Rhoades (USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, RMRS), Zachary Steel (USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, RMRS), Wade Tinkham (USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, RMRS), Katie Nigro (ORISE fellow working with the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, RMRS), and the Forest and Rangeland Stewardship Department at Colorado State University.
Blair Rynearson Manager Site Lead
State Forest Manager
Colorado State Forest Service
59228 Highway 14
Walden, CO 80480
Phone: 970-723-4505
blair.rynearson@colostate.edu
Mike Battaglia Science Site Lead
Research Forester
Rocky Mountain Research Station, USDA Forest Service
Forest and Woodland Ecosystems Science Program
240 West Prospect Road
Fort Collins, CO 80526
Phone: 970-498-1286
michael.battaglia@usda.gov
Ethan Bucholz Site Lead
Forest Monitoring Program Manager
Colorado State Forest Service
3843 Laporte Ave.
Fort Collins, CO 80521
Phone: 314-757-0387
ethan.bucholz@colostate.edu
