{"id":3584,"date":"2011-10-25T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-10-25T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/ecological-systems-mixed-conifer-forest\/"},"modified":"2021-06-09T14:30:31","modified_gmt":"2021-06-09T14:30:31","slug":"ecological-systems-mixed-conifer-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/2011\/10\/25\/ecological-systems-mixed-conifer-forest\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecological Systems: Mixed Conifer Forest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--[if gte mso 9]&gt;--><\/p>\n<p>  800&#215;600<\/p>\n<p><!--[if gte mso 9]&gt;--><\/p>\n<p>  Normal<br \/>\n  0<\/p>\n<p>  false<br \/>\n  false<br \/>\n  false<\/p>\n<p>  EN-US<br \/>\n  X-NONE<br \/>\n  X-NONE<\/p>\n<p>  MicrosoftInternetExplorer4<\/p>\n<p><!--[if gte mso 9]&gt;--><\/p>\n<p><!--[if gte mso 10]&gt;--><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"clear: both;text-align: center\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6541\" src=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/mixed-conifer.jpg\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/mixed-conifer.jpg 320w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/mixed-conifer-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<span style=\"color: black\">These are<\/span><span> mixed-conifer forests occurring on all aspects at<br \/>\nelevations ranging from 4,000 to 10,800 feet. Douglas-fir and white fir are the<br \/>\nmost common dominant trees, but as many as seven different conifer species may<br \/>\nbe present. In many areas of the state these forests form a matrix with large<br \/>\nstands of other forest types such as ponderosa pine or aspen. Natural fire<br \/>\nprocesses in mixed conifer stands are probably highly variable in both return<br \/>\ninterval and severity. Douglas-fir stands are characteristic of drier sites,<br \/>\noften mixed with ponderosa pine. More mesic stands are found in cool ravines<br \/>\nand on north-facing slopes, and are likely to be dominated by white fir with<br \/>\nblue spruce or quaking aspen stands. Fire in these cool, moist stands is<br \/>\ninfrequent, and the understory may be quite diverse. <\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<span>A number of common and rarer<br \/>\nbird species may be found in these forests, including the white-crowned<br \/>\nsparrow, mountain bluebird, Clark\u2019s nutcracker, Williamson\u2019s sapsucker, and<br \/>\nred-naped sapsucker.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<span>Mixed conifer forests cover<br \/>\nmore than 850,000 acres in Colorado. Nearly 70% of this area is federal lands,<br \/>\nprimarily those managed by the US Forest Service, but lacking wilderness<br \/>\ndesignation. A substantial portion (15%) is on private land. Consequently,<br \/>\nthese habitats are generally in good condition, with minimal threats, and<br \/>\nreasonable protection. Occurrences in the Front Range are vulnerable to the<br \/>\nimpacts of housing development, while those in western Colorado are often adjacent<br \/>\nto active oil and gas development.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both;text-align: center\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6542\" src=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/mixed-conifer-status.jpg\" width=\"320\" height=\"269\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/mixed-conifer-status.jpg 320w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/mixed-conifer-status-300x252.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center\">\n<span style=\"font-size: x-small\"><span><span>Overall biodiversity, threat, and protection status scores for mixed conifer forests in Colorado.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both;text-align: center\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6543\" src=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/mixed-conifer-windrose.jpg\" width=\"313\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/mixed-conifer-windrose.jpg 313w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/mixed-conifer-windrose-293x300.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 313px) 100vw, 313px\" \/><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center\">\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small\"><span>&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: x-small\"><span><span>A &#8220;windrose&#8221; graph depicting mixed conifer status for individual scoring factors. <\/span><\/span><span><span>&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/span><span> <\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>800&#215;600 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 These are mixed-conifer forests occurring on all aspects [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":6541,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,21,3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3584","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-biodiversity-scorecard","8":"category-conservation-planning","9":"category-ecology","10":"entry","11":"override"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}