Old Growth Ponderosa Pine and Western Larch Stand Structures: Influences of Pre-1900 Fires and Fire Exclusion

摘要

We present data from two old growth stands on Lolo National Forest representinghabitats that contrast with larch stand. One of the stands is a mixture of pine and larch on a steep upland slope and the other is larch dominated in a frost-prone valley bottom evidently at the cold limits of ponderosa pine. We also synthesize and compare age-class data, basal areas (BA), and Stand Density Indexes (SDI) for the entire range of old growth stands that we have sampled to represent the historical frequent fire types in western Montana.