Vegetational history of Rocky Mountain National Park : A factual perspective as an aid to forest management
Short SK, Elias SA, Nichols H. Vegetational history of Rocky Mountain National Park : A factual perspective as an aid to forest management. NPS contract no. CX-1200-2-B048. Colorado State University, National Park Service Cooperative Studies Unit. Boulder, Colordado
There has been a surprising lack of paleoenvironmental research in Colorado and this has implications for the management of environmental problems in the public domain. The principal question addressed by our study concerns whether or not the current subalpine ecosystem boundaries are in equilibrium with modern climate, or whether they owe some part of their present distribution to past conditions which no longer exist, and are therefore unusually vulnerable to contemporary damage. If the upper treeline is stable or moving upslope, there will be a natural healing of human or natural damage (fires, felling, etc.). By contrast, if alpine treeline is falling, then any damage to the upper treeline will have difficulty in healing naturally.