Dl you think new fires will leave burns scars like Buffalo and Hayman?

[Vincopotamus]

Caveman mentality

I might be missing something, but care to explain the Neanderthal psychology bit?

Arguing on this forum is worse than beating a dead horse. I prefer short replies

Alrighty. My clipped reply is Tim is right. On a long enough timeline, it’ll all burn.

[CaptCO]

I might be missing something, but care to explain the Neanderthal psychology bit?

Arguing on this forum is worse than beating a dead horse. I prefer short replies

Alrighty. My clipped reply is Tim is right. On a long enough timeline, it’ll all burn.

Sometimes I think Coloradans live in a bubble and forget what’s going on with the rest of the world

[d_baker]

Arguing on this forum is worse than beating a dead horse. I prefer short replies

Alrighty. My clipped reply is Tim is right. On a long enough timeline, it’ll all burn.

Sometimes I think Coloradans live in a bubble and forget what’s going on with the rest of the world

Isn't this thread specifically about CO and the effects of wildfires?
Capt, you post bizarre comments all over the board!

[CaptCO]

Alrighty. My clipped reply is Tim is right. On a long enough timeline, it’ll all burn.

Sometimes I think Coloradans live in a bubble and forget what’s going on with the rest of the world

Isn't this thread specifically about CO and the effects of wildfires?
Capt, you post bizarre comments all over the board!

Want me to stop toying with you guys now? Haha, just repaying the favor what the forum did my first few months on it

[d_baker]

Want me to stop toying with you guys now? Haha, just repaying the favor what the forum did my first few months on it

Because that makes sense....

[CaptCO]

Want me to stop toying with you guys now? Haha, just repaying the favor what the forum did my first few months on it

Because that makes sense....

I never said I made sense c’mon Darin

[d_baker]

The day you emerge as a mature member of the site....ahhh....can't wait.

[jibler]

i don't think the hayman and buffalo fires are of the natural types.

these new ones either. these are kind of unheard of mega-fires after a prolonged suppression for last 100 yrs.

i think it will take much longer than standard regrow time.



said by me from armchair

[Jorts]

All those fixed nutrients in the soil... the wildflowers should be all time. Unless the fires burned too hot and damaged the soil excessively.

[Vincopotamus]

I think I posted this last time the forum discussed the Buffalo/Hayman burn scars, but here's a fairly recent study from CU that found that those low elevation Front Strange burn scars did in fact have lower regen of conifers.

Article

Study

They think it had less to do with actual burn severity as it does the warmer and drier climate we've experienced since the fires. Without adequate moisture and cool growing seasons, regeneration of low elevation ponderosa forests will likely continue to struggle, and maybe even raise the lower tree line.

Much of this year's fires were at higher elevations in spruce/fir and lodgepole forests, so hopefully that bodes well for a stronger recovery.

[cougar]

FB_IMG_1604362482614.jpg (129.64 KiB) Viewed 514 times

This is what some of the high park burn area looks like,
on white pine mtn, the soil was completely washed out by the 2013 floods a year after the fire burned to the soil. The whole slope high on this aspect around 9500 ft is now a stand of burnt trees sticking out of talus. Floods also obliterated the Jeep road up there, but saplings were growing 3 years later. Somehow better soil washed into the road bed or it held better. This was also near the western edge of the fire that Cameron Peak just burned into.

[ekalina]

Vinco, thanks for posting the study. The article discusses a version of the experiment (along with a control) that espressoself mentioned earlier in the thread:

For a companion study, published in 2015, the authors planted ponderosa pine and Douglas fir seedlings at Heil Valley Ranch in Boulder County, placing half of them under warming chambers to raise the temperature by 2.7 degrees F. The warmer temperatures alone severely limited seedling survival and growth.

Statewide annual average temperatures have risen about 2 degrees F in 30 years and are expected to rise another 2.5 to 6.5 by 2050.

While I understand that fire is a natural phenomenon that affects forests periodically and promotes healthy growth in the long run, what concerns me is the prospect of permanently losing an unknown amount of forest to these more recent (and future) blazes. It's generally easier to enjoy the National Forests (and obtain resources from them) when they contain some living trees. I don't think we know whether the amount of forest we're permanently losing is a trivial amount in the long run, or if it's something substantial. That's the part that worries me.

The picture that cougar posted almost makes it look like the High Park fire happened yesterday. Good to hear that some saplings are growing in other parts of the burn area.