Evaluation of burned aspen communities in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Aspen has been declining in Jackson Hole for many years, a condition genera lly attributed to the fact that lightning fires have been aggressively supp ressed since the early 1900s. It is also believed that burning will success fully regenerate aspen stands despite high elk numbers. To test this hypoth esis, I evaluated 467 burned and 495 adjacent, unburned aspen stands at eig ht different locations within Jackson Hole. Aspen suckering was stimulated by burning, but most aspen stands still failed to produce new stems greater than 2 m tall where ungulate use was moderate or high. Only when elk use w as low were burned aspen stands able to successfully regenerate. At those l ocations, however, unburned aspen stands also successfully regenerated. Evi dence suggests that a combination of fire and continued elk use may elimina te many aspen clones.