Cataloging Information
Insects & Disease
Fire Effects
Ecological - Second Order
Vegetation
Survival of ponderosa pine following wildfire events depends on a number of factors, including the level of injury to the tree from the fire and the environmental conditions following the fire. The unprecedented fire year of 2000 provided an opportunity to quantify cumulative impacts of wildland fires and subsequent insect attack on ponderosa pine mortality over a large region. In 2001 plots were established in 4 National Forests: Black Hills in South Dakota, Custer in Montana, Arapaho-Roosevelt in Colorado and Coconino in Arizona. In each area, trees in burned areas and trees in unburned areas were sampled for a number of silvicultural variables and percent crown scorch, percent crown consumption, percent scorched basal circumference, scorch height on the bole, and insect presence. Tree mortality will be monitored for 3 years post burn. Currently there is little information regarding fire/insect impact on ponderosa pine ecosystems and no guidelines for field personnel to determine what tree will live or die in the near-term future in relation to the amount of damage caused by fire or the probability of injured trees being killed by insects. Understanding the cumulative impacts of insects and fire will allow forest health managers to more accurately assist land managers in predicting potential tree mortality in post-fire situations. This study aims to provide field managers with a quantitative method to assess potential tree mortality following fires.