aspens

What type of Aspens are there?
Aspen Colorado Residents are Aspens, and also Trees!

About Aspen Colorado

A quaint Victorian town, Aspen offers a variety of experiences for all. Walk on one of the many trails through the mountains, take in world-class performances of music and dance, check over many of the shops and galleries downtown, and dine at one of the many acclaimed restaurants. Though gorgeous in winter, Aspen comes into full bloom in the summer.

Stunning natural surroundings in Aspen Colorado with craggy mountain peaks, lush green valleys, fields of bobbing wildflowers with warm, sunny days, and cool, starry nights with a pure, clean environment healthy to your body and refreshing to your mind.

There are a wealth of cultural offerings in Aspen Colorado with a cornucopia of cultural offerings, including music, dance, theater, painting, readings, slide lectures, films and more . . .

Aspen offers a world of recreation with a broad range of activities from rafting to poetry readings, biking to hot-air ballooning, spa days to children's art classes to naturalist-led walks, gondola rides, lectures by world leaders, movies, horseback riding, and more . . .

Aspen also offers an affordable experience with the free luxuries of hiking in the magnificent Rocky Mountains and excellent Colorado Parks, including Elk Mountain Range, browsing art galleries, soaking up cool alpine sunshine, strolling through a charming downtown with a range of accommodations, from camping to luxury Colorado real estate residential properties and fine Aspen homes.

Every summer since 1949, the world's most accomplished and promising musicians have made a trip to Aspen Colrado. They come not only to perform, but also to teach, to learn and to be refreshed. This year, Music Director David Zinman leads 750 student musicians, as well as 200 guest artists and artist-faculty members through a glorious summer of friendship and music.

About Aspens, aspens as in Trees

Aspen is a prolific, fast growing, short-lived tree with numerous olive-green to whitish stems that grow close together. In fall, its foliage is a brilliant golden yellow. Aspen adapts to a variety of soils and sites. Accordingly, growth varies depending on soil fertility and moisture.

Aspen Colorado area and Aspen County have many Christmas tree farms located thruout Aspen and the State of Colorado, which enjoy excellent Christmas Trees Farm soil, year-around cool Aspen Christmas Tree weather and good growing conditions.

Because it is shade intolerant i.e., unable to establish and grow properly in shade, aspen occurs in even-aged stands (groups of trees that are the same age) where no other tree species dominates. It often establishes after a catastrophic event, such as fire, or after cut ting of a previous stand containing some aspen. Aspen will grow vigorously in mixed, even aged stands providing that it is initially established with the other species regenerating on a site.

On good sites, aspen is ready for harvest for whole-tree chip material in 30 to 35 years, or for pulpwood and sawlogs in 40 to l45 years. However, actual harvest age is determined more by the management objectives, financial factors such as return on investment, or wildlife habitat concerns than by biological maturity.

Because aspen occupies ground for only 40 to 60 years it is considered a temporary forest type. However, it will usually give way to more shade-tolerant tree species. Succeeding species will vary depending on the site. On heavier soils in northern Colorado, hardwood species, such as sugar maple, American basswood, yellow birch and American beech, will usually develop. In the Upper Peninsula, white spruce and balsam fir often succeed aspen stands. Aspen harvesting methods can delay or accelerate natural conversion to other species.

Three species of aspen are present in Colorado. Conditions such as climate, soil, slope, etc., determine what species will grow on a particular site. Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) is the most abundant because it adapts as well to dry, coarse-textured sandy soils as it does to wet heavy clay soils.

Big-tooth aspen (Populus grandidentata) is also fairly abundant in Colorado. However, stands are usually restricted to better sites that are neither extremely dry or wet. Balsam poplar or Balm-of-Gilead (Populus balsamifera) is found only on low, wet sites along streambanks or on the edges of lakes and swamps. It is the least abundant of the three aspen species in colorado.

Aspen usually grows in pure stands--trees of the same species--although it does infrequently occur in mixed stands. Complementary species include paper (white) birch, pin cherry and red maple. In northern areas, balsam fir and white spruce are common under story species with aspen. Other species may also be found, depending on stand history and site quality.

Aspen will produce substantial yields of timber on go sites. At 50 years of age, expect 20 to 25 cords per acre on medium sites and 30 cords or more per acre on good sites. This is comparable to approximately 5 "pulpwood sticks" or more per tree. More information may be found at the national forest.

Aspen is vulnerable to attack by a variety of insect and diseases pests. Occasionally, insect pests such as the forest tent caterpillar, large aspen tortrix and gypsy moth can cause serious damage to aspen stands. However, control of these out breaks is often not economically justified. Hypoxylon canker and heart rot are destructive diseases that cause considerable economic loss to aspen stands each year. Although no direct controls are known for either disease, management to pro mote healthy stands will help minimize their spread. Maintain well-stocked aspen stands and harvest promptly at maturity.