Colorado's changing forests

[XterraRob]

Are there any really unique trees in any part of Colorado?

[Scott P]

Are there any really unique trees in any part of Colorado?

I don't know of any. The closest I can think of is the Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine. Most of them grown in Colorado, but one place in Arizona has them and they grow in northern New Mexico as well so they aren't quite unique to Colorado.

[jibler]

speaking of changing forests


I am forgetting the author - maybe its that dude who founded the forest service? was quite a while ago


but he was describing landscapes in the desert SW I think - that are now sage land - but were not that long ago forested. the people came for the timber and now it really is nothing but sage.


i will dig this up from my archives if i think of it.

[Scott P]

Are there any really unique trees in any part of Colorado?

I don't know of any. The closest I can think of is the Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine. Most of them grown in Colorado, but one place in Arizona has them and they grow in northern New Mexico as well so they aren't quite unique to Colorado.

Where in Arizona? I think I've seen them on Mt Graham.

Most sources and habitat maps say they are only in the San Francisco Peaks and those were the only ones I knew about, but you're right. This source says that they indeed to live on Mount Graham:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/bea ... mber.shtml

Interesting. I have found stands of Great Basin bristlecones (a little different from the Rocky Mountain bristlecone) in several places where maps and sources don't show them, so there are probably other such places with the Rocky Mountain bristlecones that aren't on maps either.

[SkaredShtles]

There's a lot of logging around the Hayman burn scar, it seems a bit odd to effectively enlarge that barren area, or is it intended to restore the landscape in some way? It's well beyond thinning but not quite full blown clearcutting.

I believe they are attempting to restore it to a state of a "natural" Ponderosa forest.

[XterraRob]

Most sources and habitat maps say they are only in the San Francisco Peaks and those were the only ones I knew about, but you're right. This source says that they indeed to live on Mount Graham:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/bea ... mber.shtml

Interesting. I have found stands of Great Basin bristlecones (a little different from the Rocky Mountain bristlecone) in several places where maps and sources don't show them, so there are probably other such places with the Rocky Mountain bristlecones that aren't on maps either.

Mt. Graham in Arizona is such an interesting peak. I originally thought it was a stratovolcano, the way it rose above the valley floor. Camping at the top is pretty intense, you can see for miles, even into Mexico. I think I read it used to have an elk population on it despite there being no connecting forests.

[Carl the Cuttlefish]

As far as unique species, there aren't that many, though that's really the case for most of the US outside of the PNW and CA and AZ. Even in Georgia where there's a lot more variety, there weren't a whole lot unique to GA trees. For the most part, they were drought tolerant species like the Stone mountain oak, the wet ones for the most part were doing good and out competing the dry outcrop ones. And there was debate as to how unique species really were vs hybrids and subspecies. The bastard oak was the coolest oak of Georgia for the record though .

But that brings up a good point in that there's more inter species variety than people realize. You can tell this with spruce, you can see 2 englemanns next to each other and they have very different characteristics even though they are the same species. And the more common species like Ponderosa and Doug fir actually have a lot of sub varietals, they are different in characteristics but can still hybridize together. For instance, the ponderosas by Pagosa are a different sub variety than the ones on the Front Range. Going back east, most of the SE shortleaf pine have a good mixture of loblolly pine intermingled in the DNA, so they are really are a hybrid, and the loblollies weren't nearly as abundant as they were prior to tree plantations. So the DNA of the trees in the forest can actually change pretty dramatically in a few hundred years.

speaking of changing forests


I am forgetting the author - maybe its that dude who founded the forest service? was quite a while ago


but he was describing landscapes in the desert SW I think - that are now sage land - but were not that long ago forested. the people came for the timber and now it really is nothing but sage.


i will dig this up from my archives if i think of it.

Yeah there was some forest in southern NM that they logged it for a railroad and it never really returned to being a forest. All things considered for landscape change, I think most people would prefer things going from sagebrush to forest rather than vice versa.

[Dave B]

All things considered for landscape change, I think most people would prefer things going from sagebrush to forest rather than vice versa.

No! Again, forest are not always better. Sagebrush steppe is an amazing ecosystem that shouldn't be converted to forest because of human aesthetic opinions.

[nyker]

I've also noticed that many pine trees near roadways have started dying all of a sudden. It would seem that our forests are becoming more stressed and prone to shrinking in area, so I would be very happy if they were to actually expand as indicated by the article.
...

We see that here in northern NY also- up here its a huge problem and can be seen for 200+ miles along the main corridors.
Up here, at least recently as far as forests go (last 30-40yrs), it has been caused by the use of chemical salt cocktails on the roads in winter impacting trees on the roadside and inland (White Pine seem worst hit) as well as chloride ground water/river contamination.

The tendency to salt roads really picked up ahead of the Winter Olympics in 1980; A combination of ignorance and economics drove this (and still does), giving tourists not familiar with driving in snow the ability to speedily dart down snowy roads in 2wd cars was more important than the impact on the environment.
There are now "low salt zones" established along certain sections of road that run parallel to streams and rivers, but more needs to be done as the impact has been bad.

[jibler]

speaking of changing forests


I am forgetting the author - maybe its that dude who founded the forest service? was quite a while ago


but he was describing landscapes in the desert SW I think - that are now sage land - but were not that long ago forested. the people came for the timber and now it really is nothing but sage.


i will dig this up from my archives if i think of it.

so yes - i was going to say - I think it was Sand County Almanac I was thinking of? Aldo Leopold.

[cottonmountaineering]

I've also noticed that many pine trees near roadways have started dying all of a sudden. It would seem that our forests are becoming more stressed and prone to shrinking in area, so I would be very happy if they were to actually expand as indicated by the article.
...

We see that here in northern NY also- up here its a huge problem and can be seen for 200+ miles along the main corridors.
Up here, at least recently as far as forests go (last 30-40yrs), it has been caused by the use of chemical salt cocktails on the roads in winter impacting trees on the roadside and inland (White Pine seem worst hit) as well as chloride ground water/river contamination.

The tendency to salt roads really picked up ahead of the Winter Olympics in 1980; A combination of ignorance and economics drove this (and still does), giving tourists not familiar with driving in snow the ability to speedily dart down snowy roads in 2wd cars was more important than the impact on the environment.
There are now "low salt zones" established along certain sections of road that run parallel to streams and rivers, but more needs to be done as the impact has been bad.

ive noticed the same thing, on the uphill side the trees are usually fine but the downhill side trees are dying, seems to be salt/mag chloride related