Succession: 4 yrs after fire 1
| Title | Info |
|---|---|
| Common name | Pine, Ponderosa |
| Scientific name | Pinus ponderosa |
| Taxonomic group | Pinaceae |
| Source | Dan L. Perlman |
| Ecosystems | Forests |
| Forests | Temperate coniferous forest |
| Change over time | Disturbance; Succession |
| Succession | Secondary succession |
| Disturbance | Fire ecology |
| Lessons | Disturbance; Succession |
| Date | July 15, 2000 |
| Location | Buffalo Creek,Colorado,USA,North America |
Regrowth, four years after major forest fire, Colorado. In May, 1996, the Buffalo Creek fire struck Ponderosa pine forests in and around the Pike National Forest, burning approximately 12,000 acres (about 19 square miles or 5000 hectares). Under natural conditions, these forests experience frequent low-intensity fires; however, like much of the US West, decades of fire suppression had allowed fuel loads of dead branches and undergrowth to build to dangerous levels and this fire was hot, intense, and fast moving. At one point, the fire ran 11 miles in four and a half hours. Two months later, a heavy storm dropped two and a half inches (about 6 cm) of rain on the burned landscape, leading to massive flooding that affected the water supply for Denver, which is downstream. This image shows how much regrowth has occurred in this part of the Buffalo Creek fire area.
