Document Type

Newsletter

Volume

3

Issue

3

Editor

Paul Rogers

Publisher

Western Aspen Alliance

Publication Date

8-2012

First Page

1

Last Page

4

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Abstract

No simple answer to "What killed the Aspen?"

Mary Lou Fairweather

The recent impacts to aspen in central Arizona are so apparent that I even get questioned at social gatherings: “Tell me again, what is killing the aspen?” The answer is complicated, and harkens back to a muddled media interview. I met the reporter at the Arboretum at Flagstaff and rambled on about drought, spring frost, fire suppression, forest succession, secondary insects and diseases, and ungulate browsing. “But what killed the aspen?” the reporter asked. Nearby an Arboretum docent led a group of visitors to a small aspen grove and simply explained drought had killed large trees and young trees are being lost to herbivory. So, the docent made the evening news.

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