Research Shows Aspen Forests Slow Wildfire Spread

by Seth Mensing, Western Colorado University
July 9, 2025

As a hot, dry fire season settles in across much of the western United States, land managers are looking for anything that might slow or stop inevitable wildfires. And one solution might be standing in plain sight.   

For years, conventional wisdom held that stands of aspen trees could resist wildfires, often slowing a fire’s advance or changing its course. Now, new research from Western Colorado University’s Clark School of Environment and Sustainability is adding data to the anecdotes.  

The research, titled Aspen impedes wildfire spread in southwestern United States landscapes and published today in the journal Ecological Applications, analyzed 20 years of fire behavior across more than 300 wildfires in the Four Corners region. What the team found was that even modest increases in aspen cover dramatically reduced the rate at which fires spread. 

Keep reading: https://western.edu/newsroom/research-shows-aspen-forests-slow-wildfire-spread/

Read the Ecological Applications paper: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eap.70061