Reforestation Volunteering

[RickB]

Hey all, anyone heard of any volunteer opportunities to help repair our forests after all these fires? Was thinking maybe a 4x4 club could assist in hard to get places to reseed and clean up etc.

[Tom]

I think its to early for any of those plans to be made. Once the fires are out then damage assessment can begin and plans made for reforestation.

Sounds like a good idea though.

[Getaklu]

Per the FS site, this is along Roaring Creek trail within the Cameron fire taken @ 10/9. Nice new growth of the grass there. If I remember correctly, the Lodgepole pine seed pods need the heat of the fire to open them, so hopefully there will be some starting to sprout next year. Erosion will be the biggest issue through the spring rains in reality.

[FINOCJ]

Ecologically, most environments are quite capable of regeneration after a fire - technical term is fire 'succession'. A number of different conifer and evergreen type trees have 2 types of seeds - the normal ones that are dropped and sprout yearly, and a second type that have protective coating (often wax based) that protects the seeds for many years when on the ground, and the seed only sprouts when the wax is 'melted off' by heat (fire). The wax also protects the seed from the fire. Of course, the combination of human fire suppression, increased kindling from beetle kill and suppression, increased aridity - whether due to long term natural drought, human water usage, climate change etc - all combine to create fires that can be significantly hotter than the typical wildfire was hundreds or thousands of years ago, and some of nature's fire succession methods (such as some of the wax coated seeds) struggle to function as the wax is melted off and the seed completely destroyed (not enough wax insulation). None of the current fires in Colo have been described as being extremely hot (in terms of wildfire comparison), so hopefully succession will occur relatively easily. Of course, it does seem the Troublesome fire may be the hottest fire to date this year, and its location to the west of RMNP in a beetle kill area may be a big contributing factor. It is possible it could be environmentally more impactful than the Cameron Peak fire, despite the differences in affected acreage due to differences in burn temperature....

[Swank1975]

https://cfri.colostate.edu/

From what I've seen in some stories there are areas that are showing no signs of reforestation. Due to dry weather, high temperatures, and winds these areas are not reforesting or showing signs they are going to even 18 years later. The 2 sources for the below story are CSU and CU who are working along side the US Forest Service.

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/13/911935457/as-wildfires-grow-more-intense-iconic-western-forests-may-not-come-back