SGER: Human and Ecosystem Responses to Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreaks in the Colorado Front Range

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

In recent years, mountain pine beetle outbreaks in western North America have been startling in both their speed and extent; in Colorado alone, more than 600,000 hectares have been infected since the late 1990s. Yet, our understanding of how both ecosystems and humans react to such outbreaks, and how such responses alter critical ecosystem services, remains poor. This research involves both natural and social scientists and will take advantage of a unique opportunity to collect pre-infection data at the Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research site just prior to a pine beetle invasion that is virtually certain to occur. Data to be collected include not only those on ecosystem responses, but also on public and policy reactions to the outbreak in the Colorado Front Range region. The broader impacts of an integrated study on human and ecosystem responses to pine beetle outbreaks are considerable. The work will directly address a phenomenon that has the attention of the highest levels of government in the western U.S. and Canada, where states and provinces are scrambling to enact new management policies in the wake of large-scale beetle kills. This work will also contribute key scientific understanding to the debates on pine beetle management plans.