Yellowstone May Proved A Glimpse Of Our Future Forests As The Climate Changes

Since we're talking about Yellowstone today, it also happens to be the site of an interesting analysis of the potential effects of climate change on lodgepole pine forests, which dominate Yellowstone, in particular but also forests in general.

Seventeen years ago, a section of one of these old-growth pine forests was decimated by fire. Then, just last year, fire again roared through, but this time only in a much smaller section of the original burn. Research into how these two sections of the same forest regrow over the next few years may give us a clue as to how climate change will effect our forests in the future.

Models of climate change show that there are expected to be many more wildfires as we have areas of extended drought, higher temperatures, and more storms with accompanying lightning. That may mean that forests will have far less time to recover from wildfires than they have in the past.

In Yellowstone, those lodgepole pines usually are able to grow for at least a couple of hundred years before the next fire hits them. This extended period is critical because only older pines create cones that are covered with resin that protects them from flames and release their seeds as the fire sweeps through. The cones of younger pines are not flame resistant and release their unprotected seeds when the tree stops growing. If there are more fires over the same area, there will not be enough time for the lodgepole pines to create those resin-protected cones, meaning that there will be fewer seeds available for regrowth. Another concern is that climate change will lead to larger fires, resulting in larger swaths of forest being decimated and again resulting in slower and less dense regrowth in that area.

The study in Yellowstone seems to be bearing those concerns out. In the area that has suffered wildfires twice in the last 17 years, it appears that the density in regrowth is far less than in the area only scarred once. In the single fire area, there will be over 30,000 trees per acre while the other will only have around 400 trees per acre. With less density comes the opportunity for a more diverse forest. Aspen are now establishing themselves in the are with less dense lodgepoles. Obviously, a changing forest means a changing environment for wildlife dependent on those forests. While some species will thrive, others ill suffer from loss of habitat.

All this has potential implications for other forests throughout the West. This year could be the worst year for wildfires in the West in decades. If this year becomes more of the norm going forward, forests throughout the West may being to change drastically. And that will have an enormous effect on the local ecology and potentially those local economies.