Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir forests are struggling to regrow after wildfires in parts of the West as temperatures rise and the air and soil become drier.

Phil McKenna

BY PHIL MCKENNA

Iconic Forests Reaching Climate Tipping Points in American West, Study Finds

MAR 11, 2019

A stand of ponderosa pines two years after a wildfire. Credit: Lyn Alweis/Denver Post via Getty Images

Climate change in the American West may be crossing an ominous threshold, making parts of the region inhospitable for some native pine and fir forests to regrow after wildfires, new research suggests.

As temperatures rise, the hotter, drier air and drier soil conditions are increasingly unsuitable for young Douglas firs and ponderosa pines to take root and thrive in some of the region’s low-elevation forests, scientists write in a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Wildfires in these areas could lead to…