Western Mountain Initiative (WMI) is a long-term collaboration between FORT, WERC, NOROCK, USFS, NPS, LANL, and universities worldwide to address changes in montane forests and watersheds due to climate change. Current emphases include altered forest disturbance regimes (fire, die-off, insect outbreaks) and hydrology; interactions between plants, water, snow, nutrient cycles, and climate; and cascading ecosystem effects of nitrogen deposition. Currently there are two FORT based WMI projects: Western Mountain Initiative: Central Rocky Mountains, Western Mountain Initiative: Southern Rocky Mountains. We continue to build on decades of field research and data syntheses at national parks and many other lands throughout the west. You can read more about each of these projects on the Science tab on this page.
Western Mountain Initiative Home website
Western Mountain Initiative: Central Rocky Mountains - Principal Investigator - Jill Baron
Mountain ecosystems of the western U.S. provide irreplaceable goods and services, such as water, wood, biodiversity, and recreational opportunities, but their responses to global changes are poorly understood. The overarching objective of the Western Mountain Initiative (WMI) is to understand and predict the responses, emphasizing sensitivities, thresholds, resistance, and resilience, of Western mountain ecosystems to global change.
The effects of global change and atmospheric deposition are now apparent in nearly all western mountain landscapes, including the Central Rockies of Colorado. As part of the long-term monitoring program in Loch Vale Watershed, Rocky Mountain National Park, we have been tracking and interpreting trends in meteorology, precipitation chemistry, hydrology, limnology, water quality and forest health since 1983. Monitoring is the foundation upon which our research questions are based, and allows us to address mechanisms by which biogeochemical and biological processes are influenced by nitrogen deposition, climate change, and their interactions.
Western Mountain Initiative: Southern Rocky Mountains - Principal Investigators - Craig Allen and Ellis Margolis
Mountain ecosystems of the western U.S. provide irreplaceable goods and services such as water, wood, biodiversity, and recreational opportunities, but their potential responses to projected climatic patterns are poorly understood. The overarching objective of the Western Mountain Initiative (WMI) is to understand and predict the responses—emphasizing sensitivities, thresholds, resistance, and resilience—of western mountain ecosystems to climatic variability and change. The WMI - Southern Rocky Mountains project, with diverse research partners, works on forests in the Southwest to: 1) elucidate centennial- to millennial-length shifts in past vegetation and fire regimes; 2) study responses of fire to short-term (annual to decadal) climatic variation; 3) determine drivers of tree mortality, including drought-stress thresholds for dieback; 4) assess patterns of post-disturbance ecosystem recovery; and 5) understand the joint effects of climatic variability, fire, and land use on watershed runoff and erosion processes. For more details on current projects in the Southern Rockies supported by WMI, click here: Effects of disturbance and drought on the forests and hydrology of the Southern Rocky Mountains.
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Western Mountain Initiative: Southern Rocky Mountains
Western Mountain Initiative: Central Rocky Mountains
Below are publications associated with this project.
Post-fire wood management alters water stress, growth, and performance of pine regeneration in a Mediterranean ecosystem
Patterns and causes of observed piñon pine mortality in the southwestern United States
Links between N deposition and nitrate export from a high-elevation watershed in the Colorado Front Range
Unsupported inferences of high-severity fire in historical dry forests of the western United States: Response to Williams and Baker
Climate, not atmospheric deposition, drives the biogeochemical mass-balance of a mountain watershed
An integrated model of environmental effects on growth, carbohydrate balance, and mortality of Pinus ponderosa forests in the southern Rocky Mountains
Projected future changes in vegetation in western North America in the 21st century
Carbon stocks of trees killed by bark beetles and wildfire in the western United States
Quantifying tree mortality in a mixed species woodland using multitemporal high spatial resolution satellite imagery
Temperature as a potent driver of regional forest drought stress and tree mortality
Below are partners associated with this project.
- Overview
Western Mountain Initiative (WMI) is a long-term collaboration between FORT, WERC, NOROCK, USFS, NPS, LANL, and universities worldwide to address changes in montane forests and watersheds due to climate change. Current emphases include altered forest disturbance regimes (fire, die-off, insect outbreaks) and hydrology; interactions between plants, water, snow, nutrient cycles, and climate; and cascading ecosystem effects of nitrogen deposition. Currently there are two FORT based WMI projects: Western Mountain Initiative: Central Rocky Mountains, Western Mountain Initiative: Southern Rocky Mountains. We continue to build on decades of field research and data syntheses at national parks and many other lands throughout the west. You can read more about each of these projects on the Science tab on this page.
Western Mountain Initiative Home website
Sky Pond in Rocky Mountain National Park, CO.Photo by: Melannie Hartman. Public domain. Western Mountain Initiative: Central Rocky Mountains - Principal Investigator - Jill Baron
Mountain ecosystems of the western U.S. provide irreplaceable goods and services, such as water, wood, biodiversity, and recreational opportunities, but their responses to global changes are poorly understood. The overarching objective of the Western Mountain Initiative (WMI) is to understand and predict the responses, emphasizing sensitivities, thresholds, resistance, and resilience, of Western mountain ecosystems to global change.
The effects of global change and atmospheric deposition are now apparent in nearly all western mountain landscapes, including the Central Rockies of Colorado. As part of the long-term monitoring program in Loch Vale Watershed, Rocky Mountain National Park, we have been tracking and interpreting trends in meteorology, precipitation chemistry, hydrology, limnology, water quality and forest health since 1983. Monitoring is the foundation upon which our research questions are based, and allows us to address mechanisms by which biogeochemical and biological processes are influenced by nitrogen deposition, climate change, and their interactions.
Rio Chama Valley from Mesa Alta, NM. Photo by: Craig Allen, USGS. Public domain. Western Mountain Initiative: Southern Rocky Mountains - Principal Investigators - Craig Allen and Ellis Margolis
Mountain ecosystems of the western U.S. provide irreplaceable goods and services such as water, wood, biodiversity, and recreational opportunities, but their potential responses to projected climatic patterns are poorly understood. The overarching objective of the Western Mountain Initiative (WMI) is to understand and predict the responses—emphasizing sensitivities, thresholds, resistance, and resilience—of western mountain ecosystems to climatic variability and change. The WMI - Southern Rocky Mountains project, with diverse research partners, works on forests in the Southwest to: 1) elucidate centennial- to millennial-length shifts in past vegetation and fire regimes; 2) study responses of fire to short-term (annual to decadal) climatic variation; 3) determine drivers of tree mortality, including drought-stress thresholds for dieback; 4) assess patterns of post-disturbance ecosystem recovery; and 5) understand the joint effects of climatic variability, fire, and land use on watershed runoff and erosion processes. For more details on current projects in the Southern Rockies supported by WMI, click here: Effects of disturbance and drought on the forests and hydrology of the Southern Rocky Mountains.
- Science
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Western Mountain Initiative: Southern Rocky Mountains
Mountain ecosystems of the western U.S. provide irreplaceable goods and services such as water, wood, biodiversity, and recreational opportunities, but their potential responses to projected climatic patterns are poorly understood. The overarching objective of the Western Mountain Initiative (WMI) is to understand and predict the responses—emphasizing sensitivities, thresholds, resistance, and...Western Mountain Initiative: Central Rocky Mountains
Mountain ecosystems of the western U.S. provide irreplaceable goods and services such as water, wood, biodiversity, and recreational opportunities, but their responses to global changes are poorly understood. The overarching objective of the Western Mountain Initiative (WMI) is to understand and predict the responses, emphasizing sensitivities, thresholds, resistance, and resilience, of Western... - Publications
Below are publications associated with this project.
Filter Total Items: 24Post-fire wood management alters water stress, growth, and performance of pine regeneration in a Mediterranean ecosystem
Extensive research has focused on comparing the impacts of post-fire salvage logging versus those of less aggressive management practices on forest regeneration. However, few studies have addressed the effects of different burnt-wood management options on seedling/sapling performance, or the ecophysiological mechanisms underlying differences among treatments. In this study, we experimentally assePatterns and causes of observed piñon pine mortality in the southwestern United States
Recently, widespread piñon pine die-off occurred in the southwestern United States. Here we synthesize observational studies of this event and compare findings to expected relationships with biotic and abiotic factors. Agreement exists on the occurrence of drought, presence of bark beetles and increased mortality of larger trees. However, studies disagree about the influences of stem density, elevLinks between N deposition and nitrate export from a high-elevation watershed in the Colorado Front Range
Long-term patterns of stream nitrate export and atmospheric N deposition were evaluated over three decades in Loch Vale, a high-elevation watershed in the Colorado Front Range. Stream nitrate concentrations increased in the early 1990s, peaked in the mid-2000s, and have since declined by over 40%, coincident with trends in nitrogen oxide emissions over the past decade. Similarities in the timing aUnsupported inferences of high-severity fire in historical dry forests of the western United States: Response to Williams and Baker
Reconstructions of dry western US forests in the late 19th century in Arizona, Colorado and Oregon based on General Land Office records were used by Williams & Baker (2012; Global Ecology and Biogeography, 21, 1042–1052; hereafter W&B) to infer past fire regimes with substantial moderate and high-severity burning. The authors concluded that present-day large, high-severity fires are not distinguisClimate, not atmospheric deposition, drives the biogeochemical mass-balance of a mountain watershed
Watershed mass-balance methods are valuable tools for demonstrating impacts to water quality from atmospheric deposition and chemical weathering. Owen Bricker, a pioneer of the mass-balance method, began applying mass-balance modeling to small watersheds in the late 1960s and dedicated his career to expanding the literature and knowledge of complex watershed processes. We evaluated long-term trendAn integrated model of environmental effects on growth, carbohydrate balance, and mortality of Pinus ponderosa forests in the southern Rocky Mountains
Climate-induced tree mortality is an increasing concern for forest managers around the world. We used a coupled hydrologic and ecosystem carbon cycling model to assess temperature and precipitation impacts on productivity and survival of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa). Model predictions were evaluated using observations of productivity and survival for three ponderosa pine stands located acrossProjected future changes in vegetation in western North America in the 21st century
Rapid and broad-scale forest mortality associated with recent droughts, rising temperature, and insect outbreaks has been observed over western North America (NA). Climate models project additional future warming and increasing drought and water stress for this region. To assess future potential changes in vegetation distributions in western NA, the Community Earth System Model (CESM) coupled withCarbon stocks of trees killed by bark beetles and wildfire in the western United States
Forests are major components of the carbon cycle, and disturbances are important influences of forest carbon. Our objective was to contribute to the understanding of forest carbon cycling by quantifying the amount of carbon in trees killed by two disturbance types, fires and bark beetles, in the western United States in recent decades. We combined existing spatial data sets of forest biomass, burnQuantifying tree mortality in a mixed species woodland using multitemporal high spatial resolution satellite imagery
Widespread tree mortality events have recently been observed in several biomes. To effectively quantify the severity and extent of these events, tools that allow for rapid assessment at the landscape scale are required. Past studies using high spatial resolution satellite imagery have primarily focused on detecting green, red, and gray tree canopies during and shortly after tree damage or mortalitTemperature as a potent driver of regional forest drought stress and tree mortality
s the climate changes, drought may reduce tree productivity and survival across many forest ecosystems; however, the relative influence of specific climate parameters on forest decline is poorly understood. We derive a forest drought-stress index (FDSI) for the southwestern United States using a comprehensive tree-ring data set representing AD 1000-2007. The FDSI is approximately equally influence - News
- Partners
Below are partners associated with this project.