Aspen Ecology on the Core Elk Winter Range of Rocky Mountain National Park

Research Task: 8327CMW.2.0
Task Manager: Linda Zeigenfuss

Rocky Mountain National Park managers are directed to manage for natural processes and to correct for human modifications to ecosystems. One example of such a disruption is the potential over-concentration of elk and the subsequent ecosystem effects. Particularly perplexing to park managers is the lack of successful recruitment, escapement, and canopy replacement of aspen stands that grow at the edges of grasslands on the park's core elk winter range, located on the eastern edge of the park. These aspen stands represent a unique component of the park's plant-community diversity, since most of the park's aspen stands are located in coniferous forest, often on sheltered slopes and at higher elevations between the winter-range grasslands and some of the park's drier coniferous forests. The primary purposes of this investigation are to (1) determine the conditions that allowed aspen to establish in the park’s core winter range for elk and (2) provide information on how fire, climate, and estimated elk densities interact with and influence potential aspen regeneration.

 For more information contact Linda Zeigenfuss

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