Aspens Dying

[TheOneRidgeRunner]

Anybody else notice the aspens dying around strawberry resevoir?
As I've drove past strawberry the last few months I've noticed aspen stands dying all the way to current creek turn off. Any ideas of what's causing it?
Many stands are completely dead with only intermixed scrub brush living.

 

[Katoom]

Not familiar with the location but look into “sudden aspen decline” and how recent severe drought may have played a hand.

 

[montezumarchery]

That was a hot topic in 2005 when I moved to SW CO for 2 neighbors of mine that worked for the Forest Service. Now those old large stands are 2" diameter tightly packed new growth that you can't see 10' into. I can't imagine what it would take to thin hundreds of acres of those match sticks to make it usable habitat again.

 

[elkassassin]

They'll Blame It On The Elk!

 

[montezumarchery]

I haven't looked into it lately, but back then there were many factors that they were studying as the cause. Everything from fungal infections to drought. Never once was climate change mentioned, nowadays I guarantee if it is covered by any news source, climate change will be the cause!

 

[littlebull209338]

I think that aspen groves are all hooked together by common root systems. So I have read. Thus if one gets sick it has the potential for it to infect others.

 

[montezumarchery]

Yes, that is why in the fall whole aspen stands change color together, and the stands change at different times.

A stand of Populus tremuloides, commonly named Trembling Aspen, has been found to be the largest living organism on earth.

 

[gundog2]

It is cause by the people that carve their names in the bark

 

[SS!]

THE MULE DEER FOUNDATION is responsible for the aspens in Utah now. No surprise they are dying. Only took 35 years!