lodgepole pine's success in the PNW

[Tom]

A Seattle Times article referred to by the National Association of State Foresters (NASF)

[Coon]

That's not good news.

[Cedarman]

I was under the impression that the lodgepole pine stands were even aged because the original forest was completely cut over for mining, building and fuel for trains.  This left vast areas open for lodgepole pine.  This was perfect for large scale beetle infestation when the trees were stressed by drought over the last several decades.  With the lodge pole dying this will allow other species to get a foothold, thus reducing the acreage of lodgepole.  If the climate changes, species will adapt.  The mountains should always be green.

[Tom]

Do you reckon that there might be another agenda at play here? 

[mtngun]

I was under the impression that the lodgepole pine stands were even aged because the original forest was completely cut over for mining, building and fuel for trains.  This left vast areas open for lodgepole pine.  This was perfect for large scale beetle infestation when the trees were stressed by drought over the last several decades.  With the lodge pole dying this will allow other species to get a foothold, thus reducing the acreage of lodgepole.  If the climate changes, species will adapt.  The mountains should always be green.

This general subject has been discussed on FF before.

Some lodgepole stands were clearcut and grew back even aged, but I don't think Yellowstone Park, which is primarily lodgepole, has ever been clearcut ?

Lodgepole is adapted to fire.   A fire comes through, burns the forest, then lodgepole sprouts, even aged because it all sprouted shortly after the fire.   Eventually another fire comes through, and the process starts all over again.

But wait, Smokey the Bear comes along and puts out the fire.    Now the lodgepole forest doesn't get burned.   Drought and beetles take their toll on the aging lodgepole forest.   That's the situation we have now.

I'm not going to go out on a limb and try to predict the future, like the article Tom linked to, but it's hard to see a bright future for lodgepole even without global warming.     

[SwampDonkey]

Budworm and fire have been around for a long time in the boreal forest. But we still have jackpine, balsam fir, and black spruce. I wouldn't worry too much about those lodgepole pine. That's my prediction. ;D

[Rocky_Ranger]

mtngun is right on in my opinion, lodgepole has been living and dying for a long time - before us'ns.  I worked lodgepople stands in the Pac NW back in the late 70's and bugs killed most of the frost pocket stands, they came back to losgepole.  In the upper Arkansas valley of Colorado there are vast stands of lodgepole that completely site converted from Doug fir.  Fire hits a Doug fir stand and the only species best adapted was lodgepole.  It was probably a minor component but these things seed like crazy - serotinous cones, too.

[Clark]

Do you reckon that there might be another agenda at play here? 

If you didn't read the article...I think Tom is referencing the fact that fire and other natural disturbances are barely mentioned.  The main gist of the article is that global warming will (according to computer models) reduce lodgepole pine abundance to 17% of it's current range.

No mention was made of the fire suppression activities of the last century or what effect that has had on the current range of lodgepole.

This article would leave a rather skewed impression of reality on the average newspaper reader.

Clark