| The mountain pine beetle is a forest insect that inhabits lodgepole pine forests throughout western North America. Previous research has documented changes to stand density, structure, and species composition during large-scale epidemics. Unclear, however, is the effect that mountain pine beetle mortality has on overall lodgepole pine fuels complexes and what these changes imply in terms of fire behavior. The purpose of this research was to quantify and compare mountain pine beetle-induced changes to lodgepole pine stands during endemic, current epidemic, and post-epidemic beetle populations and use these data to construct custom fuel models to predict fire behavior. Three study sites were selected, a 20-year-old post-epidemic on the Ashley National Forest, a current epidemic on the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, and another current epidemic on the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. Results indicated that in the current epidemic stands there were significantly greater amounts of fine surface fuels (litter and 1 hour) and dead aerial foliage compared to the associated endemic stands. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
