In June, the NMFWRI Ecological Monitoring crew counted aspen – over 600 stems. This dedicated aspen-counting was part of our monitoring effort at the 22.07 Johnson Mesa re-measure. This project is one of our long-term monitoring sites on the Santa Fe National Forest. It has been monitored pre- and post-treatment, post-prescribed fire, and now twice post-wildfire.
We also measured lots of other things such as other overstory trees, rates of snag decay, natural regeneration, understory species composition, fuel loads, and more. Longitudinal data collected on projects like this one can help forest managers understand and make decisions about effective treatments and the impacts of fire on forest health.
