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Contact: Kyle Patterson, 970-586-1363
2011 Lyceum Series Saturday, April 2, 7:00 p.m. A severe mountain pine beetle outbreak has caused widespread mortality of lodgepole pine and other pine species in Rocky Mountain National Park. The park is just one relatively small area where trees are dying from the beetle epidemic. Dr. Monique Rocca will discuss popular concerns about the fire hazard posed by beetle-killed trees and about what will grow where vast lodgepole forests once stood. Dr. Rocca is an ecologist and professor at Colorado State University with expertise in wildland fire science and management, forest restoration, and plant ecology. She will also offer an overview of the results of an ongoing research project in Rocky, which aims to forecast what the lodgepole pine forests will look like 100 years from now. The theme of the 2011 Lyceum Series is "Trying To See The Forest For The Trees: Forest Health In The Rocky Mountains." The forests in and around Rocky Mountain National Park provide wonderful benefits such as water, recreation, wildlife habitat, timber, and other forest products. They are, however, vulnerable to a wide variety of stressors. RMNP will invite regional experts to answer visitor questions on insects, diseases, exotics, invasives, wildfire, prescribed burns, ozone/pollutants, wildlife/biodiversity, watersheds, soils, and forests as indicators of climate change. The Lyceum schedule runs through May 14. Financial support for the lyceum series is provided by the park's nonprofit partner, the Rocky Mountain Nature Association. Programs are free and open to the public. They are held at 7:00 p.m. at the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center auditorium in Rocky Mountain National Park. For more information about Rocky Mountain National Park please call (970) 586-1206. |
Last updated: February 24, 2015