New information about SAD issue.

• "Forest Ecology and Management" has a paper in press about Sudden Aspen Decline. It's entitled"Rapid Mortality of Populus tremuloides in Southwestern Colorado" and is authored by Jim Worrall and others.   (Posted MARCH 2008)

• Sudden Aspen Decline (SAD) Summit Report.  In February 2008, a meeting sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Research Station and Rocky Mountain and Intermountain Regions of the U.S. Forest Service was convened to share information on Sudden Aspen Decline (SAD) and discuss research and management activities to deal with the issue. The meeting was held at the on the Natural Resources Research Center campus in Fort Collins.

• Colorado State University in partnership with USDA Forest Service - RMRS and the RockyMountain Region, the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, and the Colorado State Forest Service complete brochure that explains gradual, long-term changes and recent widespread death of aspen trees. (Posted October 30,2007)

• Forest Heath Management publishes a FAQ on SAD--Sudden Aspen Deline in southwestern Colorado " (October 5, 2007)

• Another fall, and another focus on Sudden Aspen Decline in the press: Salt Lake Tribune (September 2007) and the Denver Post Opinion Page (September 25, 2007) The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction,September 2007) and The Watch (Telluride-September 2007)

MANY MORE SAD REPORTS FALL 2007:

• The Durango Herald 9-13-07 - Drought, age harm trees
  http://durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=out&article_path=/outdoors/out070913_1.htm

  Montrose Daily Press 9-16-07 - Signs of autumn fading?
  http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/09/16/news/doc46ecaf4b2abbc894509736.txt

  Vail Daily News 9-19-07 - Are aspen roots dying?
  http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070919/NEWS/70918035

  High Country News 9-20-07 - Losing their luster
  http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=17250

  Colorado Springs Gazette 9-23-07 - Our view Sunday: We can't leaf this to
  chance
  (Note - this is an editorial calling attention to SAD and urging action)
  http://www.gazette.com/opinion/subprime_27621___article.html/thousands_wave.html

  Summit Daily News 9-25-07 - Blight robbing aspen trees of autumn gold
  http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070925/NEWS/109250071

  Aspen Times 10-1-07 - Brilliant aspen trees facing decline
  http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20071001/NEWS/71001002/0/FRONTPAGE

• Rocky Mountain Research Station presents Briefing Paper on Aspen Die-off to Congress (March 2007)

• Aspen "Die-off Summit" held in December 2006 The Rocky Mountain Research Station held a summit of 30 scientists and resource managers in Salt Lake City on December to probe the nature and causes of the region's aspen decline. 2
  Participants from all professional disciplines were then assigned to
  the following subject matter groups: Forest Ecology, Silviculture/Management, Genetics, Wildlife Ecology, Forest Health (pathologists, entomologists, etc.). Each group was asked to discuss the following topic outline and make recommendations to address the aspen mortality phenomenon:
  a. Determine factors associated with aspen die-off
  b. Determine research needs - factors and questions that need to be studied
  c. Organize research needs into testable questions/hypotheses with budgets
  Each subject matter group produced outline notes of their discussions. A draft of those notes can be reviewed. Also Presentation outlines from the summit can be reviewed.

• Issue Get Good Press (September 2006)- See a story about the die-off issue (and the distribution list of news agencies that picked up the story) and a story about the die-off that came out of  the September 2006 Aspen conference held in Logan Utah (as well as a list of the news sources that picked up this story).
• National Public Radio (NPR) reports on die-off issue (Hear recorded story). Wayne Shepperd of the Rocky Mountain Research Station and Dan Brinkley of Colorado State University interviewed September 18,2006.

Web sites about Sudden Aspen Decline (SAD).

FOREST HEALTH: Aspen Decline in Northern Arizona--Web page produced by US Forest Service, Southwest Region.

Climate Change Impacts on the Productivity and Heath of Aspen CIPHA is a research and monitoring initiative of the Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada. This project was started because since the 1980s, dieback and reduced growth of aspen has been noted, especially along the southern edge of the boreal forest and the aspen parkland.

Management Recommendations for Restoring Cedar Mountain Aspen--Seth Ohms, Graduate Research Assistant, Utah State University, Logan, Utah reports on Aspen clones southwestern Utah are deteriorating, some having experienced high mortality coupled with insufficient regeneration. (Presentation at Managing Aspen Conference in Cedar City, Utah in 2004