Beyond red crowns: complex changes in surface and crown fuels and their interactions 32 years following mountain pine beetle epidemics in south-central Oregon, USA

Background Mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins; MPB), a bark beetle native to western North America, has caused vast areas of tree mortality over the last several decades. The majority of this mortality has been in lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Douglas ex Loudon) forests and has heightened concerns over the potential for extreme fire behavior across large landscapes. Although considerable research has emerged concerning influence of MPB on forest fuels, there has been little work in the climax lodgepole pine forests of south-central Oregon, USA. Specifically, we assessed changes in forest structure and crown and surface fuels across a chronosequence of time since mountain pine beetle (TSB) epidemics in south-central Oregon (1979 to 2008).