Disturbance Interactions and Catastrophic Blowdown in a Rocky Mountain Subalpine Forest Landscape

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The research examines how present landscape patterns are influenced by contemporary processes as well as being preconditioned by antecedent variables. Contemporary theory in disturbance ecology and vegetation dynamics is increasingly sensitive to historical context and attentive to spatial heterogeneity. The study takes advantage of one of the largest forest blowdowns in the southern Rocky Mountains, which occurred in late 1997 and affected almost 8000 hectares. Pre-blowdown disturbance history will be determined from tree-ring data and mapped on the basis of pre-blowdown aerial photographs. Comparisons to post-blowdown conditions will be made. Nearby sites will act as `controls` to examine the full set of potential disturbance interactions such as those arising from fire, bark beetle outbreaks, or logging operations. Results will provide insight into vegetation dynamics and will have critical implications for management of forest resources under future environmental change scenarios.