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Southwest Colorado Wildfire Research Papers

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Wildfire is a natural process in the forests of Southwest Colorado. However, Colorado and much of the United States is experiencing unnatural behavior in wildfire due to climate change and human intervention. Forest fires in the San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado are bigger and hotter than they were historically. This is a threat to both the environment and human populations. Wildlife, watersheds, and people living and recreating here are all affected. This paper will investigate the role of forest health and climate change in changing fire behavior. The paper will explore how human impact has changed fire, and what measures scientists, managers, and practitioners can take to reverse the damage and bring the regions forests back to more …show more content…

Fire was thought to be bad, and wildfires were immediately suppressed. Wildfires are an important part of the ecosystem. Fire has shaped forests and grasslands for thousands of years, and many plants and animals depend on it. As human interference continued, forest health declined (Fire Ecology in Colorado). Forests here may become overgrown when fire isn’t allowed to move through. This creates overcrowding which creates competition. Forest landscapes become vulnerable to dangerous, high intensity fires (Fire Ecology in Colorado). Disease and beetle infestation are also a growing problem. Combining the unnatural state of the forests in Southwest Colorado with the changes in climate due to climate change, the region faces even more challenges. Bark beetle infestation in the San Juan Mountains is on the rise. As climate change brings warmer weather throughout the region, spruce and mountain pine beetle outbreaks are more common (Williams 2002). The beetles kill the tree leaving standing dead. As the San Juans become more susceptible to beetles and disease due to poor health caused by both climate change and humans taking fire out of the ecosystem, the forest becomes ideal breeding conditions for the bark beetles. The standing dead left behind creates the perfect environment for high intensity, stand replacing, crown

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