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Science Behind The Scenery Presentation: Post-Fire Vegetation Response At Chickaree Lake

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Published Date

May 17, 2019

Rocky Mountain National Park.

Rocky Mountain National Park invites visitors to a special program at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 22, at the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center.  Participants will join recent Kansas State University graduate Barrie Chileen as she shares her research on vegetation response to wildfires over the past 2,500 years at Chickaree Lake on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park. 

While it is easy to see the modern impacts of wildfire on forests in the Rocky Mountains, less is known about how fire has impacted forests in the past. How are we able to see the impacts of wildfire that occured thousands of years ago?

In this "Science Behind the Scenery" presentation, Ms. Chileen will share her master’s thesis work that reconstructs past wildfire and vegetation through materials deposited in lake mud to better understand what future fire regimes and climate scenarios may hold for Colorado Rocky Mountain forests. This presentation will unveil the hidden treasures within lake mud and show how pollen is more than just the source of spring sniffles. Ms. Chileen is a recent graduate from Kansas State University where she received her master’s degree in geography. She is extremely passionate about studying plants and wildfire and is excited to share her research with you. 

This presentation is the first in a five-part Science Behind the Scenery speaker series, brought to you by the Continental Divide Research Learning Center at Rocky Mountain National Park, and the Rocky Mountain Conservancy. Join us each month this summer to learn more about park research, and what it tells us about the park and its resources. All programs are free and open to the public.

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