Current Research

(1) Examine the impacts of wildfire and postfire rehabilitation activities on forest overstory and understory composition and structure; (2) Clarify how, when, and why overstory and understory plant communities change as a result of ongoing insect and disease epidemics; (3) Investigate the impacts of forest management activities (e.g., slash pile burning, salvage logging) on native and exotic plants

Research Interests

My research activities address the impacts of natural and human disturbances on plant populations and communities in Rocky Mountain forests.

Education

• University of Delaware, Newark, DE, B.S. Environmental Science 1996
• Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, M.S. Forest Sciences 1999
• Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, Ph.D. Ecology 2009

Professional Experience

Publications

• Stevens, Jens T.; Miller, Jesse E. D.; Fornwalt, Paula J. 2019. Fire severity and changing composition of forest understory plant communities.
• Brown, Peter M.; Gannon, Benjamin ; Battaglia, Mike A.; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Huckaby, Laurie S.; Cheng, Antony S.; Baggett, L. Scott. 2019. Identifying old trees to inform ecological restoration in montane forests of the central Rocky Mountains, USA.
• Korb, Julie E.; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Stevens-Rumann, Camille S. 2019. What drives ponderosa pine regeneration following wildfire in the western United States.
• Battaglia, Mike A.; Gannon, Benjamin; Brown, Peter M.; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Cheng, Antony S.; Huckaby, Laurie S. 2018. Changes in forest structure since 1860 in ponderosa pine dominated forests in the Colorado and Wyoming Front Range, USA.
• Cannon, Jeffery B.; Barrett, Kevin J.; Gannon, Benjamin M.; Addington, Robert N.; Battaglia, Mike A.; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Aplet, Gregory H.; Cheng, Antony S.; Underhill, Jeffrey L.; Briggs, Jennifer S.; Brown, Peter M. 2018. Collaborative restoration effects on forest structure in ponderosa pine-dominated forests of Colorado.
• Malone, Sparkle L.; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Battaglia, Mike A.; Chambers, Marin E.; Iniguez, Jose M.; Sieg, Carolyn H. 2018. Mixed-severity fire fosters heterogeneous spatial patterns of conifer regeneration in a dry conifer forest.
• Rhoades, Charles C.; Pelz, Kristen A.; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Wolk, Brett H.; Cheng, Antony S. 2018. Overlapping bark beetle outbreaks, salvage logging and wildfire restructure a lodgepole pine ecosystem.
• Fornwalt, Paula J.; Stevens-Rumann, Camille S.; Collins, Byron J. 2018. Overstory structure and surface cover dynamics in the decade following the Hayman Fire, Colorado.
• Addington, Robert N.; Aplet, Gregory H.; Battaglia, Mike A.; Briggs, Jennifer S.; Brown, Peter M.; Cheng, Antony S.; Dickinson, Yvette; Feinstein, Jonas A.; Pelz, Kristen A.; Regan, Claudia M.; Thinnes, Jim; Truex, Rick; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Gannon, Benjamin; Julian, Chad W.; Underhill, Jeffrey L.; Wolk, Brett. 2018. Principles and practices for the restoration of ponderosa pine and dry mixed-conifer forests of the Colorado Front Range.
• Fornwalt, Paula J.; Rhoades, Charles C.; Hubbard, Robert M.; Harris, Rebecca L.; Faist, Akasha M.; Bowman, William D. 2018. Short-term understory plant community responses to salvage logging in beetle-affected lodgepole pine forests.
• Fornwalt, Paula J.; Rocca, Monique E.; Battaglia, Michael; Rhoades, Charles C.; Ryan, Michael G. 2017. Mulching fuels treatments promote understory plant communities in three Colorado, USA, coniferous forest types.
• Briggs, Jennifer S.; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Feinstein, Jonas A. 2017. Short-term ecological consequences of collaborative restoration treatments in ponderosa pine forests of Colorado.
• Owen, Suzanne M.; Sieg, Carolyn H.; Meador, Andrew J. Sanchez; Fule, Peter Z.; Iniguez, Jose M.; Baggett, L. Scott; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Battaglia, Michael A. 2017. Spatial patterns of ponderosa pine regeneration in high-severity burn patches.
• Ziegler, Justin P.; Hoffman, Chad M.; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Sieg, Carolyn H.; Battaglia, Michael A.; Chambers, Marin E.; Iniguez, Jose M. 2017. Tree regeneration spatial patterns in ponderosa pine forests following stand-replacing fire: Influence of topography and neighbors.
• Foster, Adrianna C.; Shuman, Jacquelyn K.; Shugart, Herman H.; Dwire, Kathleen A.; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Sibold, Jason; Negron, Jose. 2017. Validation and application of a forest gap model to the southern Rocky Mountains.
• Fornwalt, Paula J.; Huckaby, Laurie S.; Alton, Steven K.; Kaufmann, Merrill R.; Brown, Peter M.; Cheng, Antony S. 2016. Did the 2002 Hayman Fire, Colorado, USA, burn with uncharacteristic severity.
• Chambers, Marin E.; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Malone, Sparkle L.; Battaglia, Michael. 2016. Patterns of conifer regeneration following high severity wildfire in ponderosa pine - dominated forests of the Colorado Front Range.
• Fornwalt, Paula J. 2015. Does smoke promote seed germination in 10 Interior West Penstemon species.
• Brown, Peter M.; Battaglia, Michael A.; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Gannon, Benjamin; Huckaby, Laurie S.; Julian, Chad; Cheng, Antony S. 2015. Historical (1860) forest structure in ponderosa pine forests of the northern Front Range, Colorado.
• Rhoades, Charles C.; Fornwalt, Paula J. 2015. Pile burning creates a fifty-year legacy of openings in regenerating lodgepole pine forests in Colorado.
• Rhoades, Charles C.; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Paschke, Mark W.; Shanklin, Amber; Jonas, Jayne L. 2015. Recovery of small pile burn scars in conifer forests of the Colorado Front Range.
• Miller, Sue; Rhoades, Chuck; Schnackenberg, Liz; Fornwalt, Paula; Schroder, Eric. 2015. Science You Can Use Bulletin: Slash from the past: Rehabilitating pile burn scars.
• Abella, Scott; Fornwalt, Paula J. 2015. Ten years of vegetation assembly after a North American mega-fire.
• Dickinson, Yvette L.; Addington, Rob; Aplet, Greg; Babler, Mike; Battaglia, Mike; Brown, Peter; Cheng, Tony; Cooley, Casey; Edwards, Dick; Feinstein, Jonas; Fornwalt, Paula; Gibbs, Hal; Matonis, Megan; Pelz, Kristen; Regan, Claudia. 2014. Desirable forest structures for a restored Front Range.
• Ortega, J.; Turnipseed, A.; Guenther, A. B.; Karl, T. G.; Day, D. A.; Gochis, D.; Huffman, J. A.; Prenni, A. J.; Levin, E. J. T.; Kreidenweis, S. M.; DeMott, P. J.; Tobo, Y.; Patton, E. G.; Hodzic, A.; Cui, Y. Y.; Harley, P. C.; Hornbrook, R. S.; Apel, E. C.; Monson, R. K.; Eller, A. S. D.; Greenberg, J. P.; Barth, M. C.; Campuzano-Jost, P.; Palm, B. B.; Jimenez, J. L.; Aiken, A. C.; Dubey, M. K.; Geron, C.; Offenberg, J.; Ryan, M. G.; Fornwalt, P. J.; Pryor, S. C.; Keutsch, F. N.; DiGangi, J. P.; Chan, A. W. H.; Goldstein, A. H.; Wolfe, G. M.; Kim, S.; Kaser, L.; Schnitzhofer, R.; Hansel, A.; Cantrell, C. A.; Mauldin, R. L.; Smith, J. N. 2014. Overview of the Manitou Experimental Forest Observatory: Site description and selected science results from 2008 to 2013.
• Fornwalt, Paula J.; Kaufman, Merrill R. 2014. Understorey plant community dynamics following a large, mixed severity wildfire in a Pinus ponderosa-Pseudotsuga menziesii forest, Colorado, USA.
• Fornwalt, Paula. 2013. Invasive Species Science Update (No. 6).
• Fornwalt, Paula. 2013. The 2002 Hayman Fire - ecological benefit or catastrophe An understory plant community perspective.
• Malcolm, Karl; Rhoades, Chuck; Battaglia, Michael; Fornwalt, Paula; Hubbard, Rob; Elder, Kelly; Collins, Byron. 2012. Science You Can Use Bulletin: From death comes life: Recovery and revolution in the wake of epidemic outbreaks of mountain pine beetle.
• Fornwalt, Paula J.; Rhoades, Charles C. 2011. Rehabilitating slash pile burn scars in upper montane forests of the Colorado Front Range.
• Fornwalt, Paula J.; Kaufmann, Merrill R.; Stohlgren, Thomas J. 2010. Impacts of mixed severity wildfire on exotic plants in a Colorado ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir forest.
• Fornwalt, Paula J. 2009. Disturbance impacts on understory plant communities of the Colorado Front Range.
• Fornwalt, Paula J.; Kaufmann, Merrill R.; Huckaby, Laurie S. 2009. Effects of past logging and grazing on understory plant communities in a montane Colorado forest.
• Fornwalt, Paula J. 2009. Lessons from the Hayman Fire: Forest understory responses to the scarify-and-seed postfire rehabilitation treatment.
• Binkley, Dan; Kashian, Daniel M.; Boyden, Suzanne; Kaye, Margot W.; Bradford, John B.; Arthur, Mary A.; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Ryan, Michael G. 2006. Patterns of growth dominance in forests of the Rocky Mountains, USA.
• Huckaby, Laurie Stroh; Kaufmann, Merrill R.; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Stoker, Jason M.; Dennis, Chuck. 2003. Field guide to old ponderosa pines in the Colorado Front Range.
• Huckaby, Laurie Stroh; Kaufmann, Merrill R.; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Stoker, Jason M.; Dennis, Chuck. 2003. Identification and ecology of old ponderosa pine trees in the Colorado Front Range.
• Fornwalt, Paula J.; Kaufmann, Merrill R.; Huckaby, Laurie S.; Stoker, Jason M.; Stohlgren, Thomas J. 2003. Non-native plant invasions in managed and protected ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forests of the Colorado Front Range.
• Kaufmann, Merrill R.; Huckaby, Laurie S.; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Stoker, Jason M.; Romme, William H. 2003. Using tree recruitment patterns and fire history to guide restoration of an unlogged ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir landscape in the southern Rocky Mountains after a century of fire suppression.
• Fornwalt, Paula J.; Kaufmann, Merrill R.; Huckaby, Laurie S.; Stoker, Jason M. 2002. Using the Forest Vegetation Simulator to reconstruct historical stand conditions in the Colorado Front Range.
• Kaufmann, Merrill R.; Fornwalt, Paula J.; Huckaby, Laurie S.; Stoker, Jason M. 2001. Cheesman Lake-a historical ponderosa pine landscape guiding restoration in the South Platte Watershed of the Colorado Front Range.
• Huckaby, Laurie S.; Kaufmann, Merrill R.; Stoker, Jason M.; Fornwalt, Paula J. 2001. Landscape patterns of montane forest age structure relative to fire history at Cheesman Lake in the Colorado Front Range.

Research Highlights

Highlight	Title	Year
RMRS-2016-6	A Decade after the 2002 Hayman Fire, Understory Plant Communities are Diverse and Productive In 2002, Colorado’s Hayman Fire burned research plots used to sample understory plant communities, providing an opportunity to address these c ...	2016
RMRS-2018-85	Ecological impacts of collaborative forest restoration treatments Restoration treatments are being implemented at an increasing rate in ponderosa pine and other dry conifer forests across the western United Sta ...	2018
RMRS-2016-227	Post-fire Conifer Regeneration in Severely Burned Southern Rocky Mountain Ponderosa Pine Forests Wildfire is an important disturbance in ponderosa pine forests of the southern Rocky Mountains. Forest Service research results from the Colorad ...	2016
RMRS-2017-198	Spatial patterns of ponderosa pine regeneration in high-severity burn patches Over the past three decades, wildfires in Southwestern United States ponderosa pine forests have increased in size and severity, leaving large p ...	2017
RMRS-2017-209	Was the 2002 Hayman Fire, Colorado, an uncharacteristically severe event? In 2002, the Hayman Fire burned across the unlogged Cheesman Lake landscape, a 3,400 hectare dry-conifer forest landscape in Colorado that had b ...	2017