Malone, Sparkle L., authorFornwalt, Paula J., authorBattaglia, Mike A., authorChambers, Marin E., authorIniguez, Jose M., authorSieg, Carolyn H., author2025-08-072025-08-072018-01-20Malone, S.L.; Fornwalt, P.J.; Battaglia, M.A.; Chambers, M.E.; Iniguez, J.M.; Sieg, C.H. Mixed-Severity Fire Fosters Heterogeneous Spatial Patterns of Conifer Regeneration in a Dry Conifer Forest. Forests 2018, 9, 45. https://doi.org/10.3390/f9010045https://hdl.handle.net/10217/241565We examined spatial patterns of post-fire regenerating conifers in a Colorado, USA, dry conifer forest 11 12 years following the reintroduction of mixed-severity fire. We mapped and measured all post-fire regenerating conifers, as well as all other post-fire regenerating trees and all residual (i.e., surviving) trees, in three 4-ha plots following the 2002 Hayman Fire. Residual tree density ranged from 167 to 197 trees ha 1 (TPH), and these trees were clustered at distances up to 30 m. Post-fire regenerating conifers, which ranged in density from 241 to 1036 TPH, were also clustered at distances up to at least 30 m. Moreover, residual tree locations drove post-fire regenerating conifer locations, with the two showing a pattern of repulsion. Topography and post-fire sprouting tree species locations further drove post-fire conifer regeneration locations. These results provide a foundation for anticipating how the reintroduction of mixed-severity fire may affect long-term forest structure, and also yield insights into how historical mixed-severity fire may have regulated the spatially heterogeneous conditions commonly described for pre-settlement dry conifer forests of Colorado and elsewhere.born digitalarticlesenghttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/forest recoverywildfire effectsstem mapsresilient ecosystemsPike National ForestHayman FireTextThis article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).https://doi.org/10.3390/f9010045