抖阴旅行射

By Lisa Marshall

With wildfires becoming more frequent across the West, people ask: What will become of听our forests?

A University of Colorado Boulder-led study found that when forests burn across the Southern听Rocky Mountains, many will not grow back and might convert to grasslands and shrublands.听

鈥淲e project that postfire recovery will be less likely in the future, with large percentages of the听Southern Rocky Mountains becoming unsuitable for two important tree species鈥攑onderosa pine听and Douglas fir,鈥� said lead author Kyle Rodman, who conducted the听study while a geography听PhD student.

Previous 抖阴旅行射 Boulder studies looked at individual fire sites and found that forests recovered slowly听or not at all. Even 15 years later, up to 80% of the scorched plots still contained no new trees.

Learn more about this topic:

• Forests scorched by wildfire unlikely to recover, may convert to grasslands