Largest organism faces extinction
Aspen trees that stand all over the west, including the largest organism in the world, are facing extinction, said Paul Rogers, adjunct assistant professor of wildland resources at USU.
“The real serious problem there is that there’s no new generation,” Rogers said. Rogers recently visited the site, which consists of aspens connected at the roots and often referred to as Pando’s clone. The 106-acre stand of aspen trees is located near Richfield, Utah.
Old trees are dwindling in number due to increased insect populations and disease, Rogers said. Rogers is also a member of the Western Aspen Alliance, a research group that aims to better the chances for aspen groves throughout the region.
Aspen trees regenerate largely through a complex network of underground root systems using new sprouts called “suckers”, said Aspen ecologist Dale Bartos. Seed reproduction happens, but it’s rare.
“I’ve been going to the Pando for the last 15-18 years,” Bartos said. “When I started, the parent trees were pretty healthy, pretty robust. Now in some spots, 80-90 percent are dead or dying.”
Thriving aspen trees will live 100-120 years. It is natural for the old trees to die off, Rogers said. The real serious problem is that there’s no new generation due to wildlife and livestock.
Cattle roam through the Pando area and graze on the newly sprouted stems, he said. The forest is also home to elk and deer which also forage on the trees.
“Aspen is like candy to goats, deer, cattle and elk,” said Karen Mock, associate professor in conservation genetics. “Until aspen grows out of the range of those mouths, it’s really at high risk.”
Mock said she began researching aspen clones about five years ago in the Logan Canyon. Her research led to the Pando. She questioned whether it was actually one big clone, or several smaller ones.
“Based on leaf morphology, by and large, Pando is one huge clone,” she said. Her findings also showed that there are approximately 47,000 stems.
Pando is easily accessible by road because of its proximity to Fishlake National Forest, Mock said. It is possible there are larger aspen clones in more remote areas that have yet to be discovered.
According to a video called “Fading Gold,” produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, aspen provide a habitat for ruffed grouse, beavers, moose, elk, black bears and migrating songbirds. Many animals are dependent on the aspen for nesting, foraging, breeding and resting.
Various efforts are being made to prevent the Pando and other aspen clones from completely dying off, Rogers said. An 8-10 acre section of the Pando clone has been fenced off, yet deer still find a way to get to the sprouts.
“We need to come up with as much money as we can and fence as much as we can,” Rogers said. “If we had a million dollars, we’d fence the whole thing off.”
Rogers said because Pando is so close to a recreation area, fencing the whole area off is not an option.
Research is focused on finding other solutions to the regeneration problem, such as burning the invasive conifer trees that block sunlight from aspens, Bartos said. Events such as forest fires stimulate the growth of new stems.
Older aspens can be harvested for wood fiber which is used to make furniture and novelties such as souvenirs, he said. The trees self-limit to prevent overcrowding, so when old trees are cut down, new trees grow.
“There’s a lot of treating of aspen to get it back to a healthy nature,” Bartos said. “In some instances it works well and in some it doesn’t.”
Mock said an ideal scenario would involve more research, like present-day surveys, historical surveys and aerial photographs.
“We’re choosing to be in a land grant institution where the questions are applied and where the answers are important to the citizens of Utah,” Mock said.
Rogers said that USU, the National Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are working together to fund sustainability efforts. While the forest service is busy fighting fires in other areas, the BLM is “becoming more progressive in some ways.”
“I’m the neutral consultant to provide scientific information,” Rogers said. “The stage we’re at now is we are trying to avoid calling names and learn how to work together. ‘How do we fix this?’ as opposed to ‘Who do we blame?'”
– dan.whitney.smith@aggiemail.usu.edu