Declining Ponderosa Pine

We tend to think of old growth forest as dark, moist forest. But there are dry old growth forest types as well. One of the most threatened old growth forests are the open Pondersa pine stands in the western U.S. Due to fire exclusion, smaller fir trees are encroaching, robbing the mature trees of needed resources and the open conditions they require to reproduce. The result is a much younger forest of fir that tend to die off, increasing fuel loads that create hotter than normal forest fires. Notice the dense small trees crowding the larger, red-barked Ponderosa pine. This picture is taken in the Rapid River of Idaho. June 2005