Editing Grand Teton National Park (section)

=== Fire ecology ===
[[File:Beaver Creek Fire.jpg|thumb|right|A forest fire near Beaver Creek]]
The role of wildfire is an important one for plant and animal species diversity.<ref name=fire>{{cite web|title=Fire Regime|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/fire.htm|work=Environmental Factors|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=December 30, 2011|date=December 2, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120713041538/http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/fire.htm|archive-date=July 13, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Many tree species have evolved to mainly germinate after a wildfire. Regions of the park that have experienced wildfire in historical times have greater species diversity after reestablishment than those regions that have not been influenced by fire.<ref name=fire/><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Doyle|first1=K.M.|title=Seventeen Years of Forest Succession Following the Waterfalls Canyon Fire in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming|journal=International Journal of Wildland Fire|year=1998|volume=8|issue=1|doi=10.1071/WF9980045|page=45|last2=Knight|first2=D.H.|last3=Taylor|first3=D.L.|last4=Barmore|first4=W.J.|last5=Benedict|first5=J.M.|display-authors=etal|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Though the [[Yellowstone fires of 1988]] had minimal impact on Grand Teton National Park, studies conducted before and reaffirmed after that event concluded that the suppression of natural wildfires during the middle part of the 20th century decreased plant species diversity and natural regeneration of plant communities. One study conducted 15 years before the 1988 Yellowstone National Park fires concluded that human suppression of wildfire had adversely impacted Aspen tree groves and other forest types.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Loope|first=Lloyd|author2=George Gruell|title=The Ecological Role of Fire in Natural Conifer Forests of Western and Northern America|journal=Quaternary Research|date=October 1973|volume=3|issue=3|pages=425–443|doi=10.1016/0033-5894(73)90007-0|bibcode=1973QuRes...3..425L|s2cid=128898446 |url=https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/aspen_bib/5313}}</ref> The majority of conifer species in Grand Teton National Park are heavily dependent on wildfire and this is particularly true of the Lodgepole Pine.<ref>{{cite book|last=Arno|first=Stephen|title=Mimicking nature's fire: restoring fire-prone forests in the West|date=March 16, 2005|publisher=Island Press|isbn=978-1-55963-143-3|pages=149–153|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=92BUwxJDGnUC|edition=1st|author2=Carl Fiedler|access-date=December 30, 2011}}</ref> Though extremely hot canopy or crown fires tend to kill Lodgepole Pine seeds, lower severity surface fires usually result in a higher post-wildfire regeneration of this species.<ref>{{cite web|last=Anderson|first=Michelle|title=Species: Pinus contorta var. latifolia|url=http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/pinconl/all.html#26|publisher=United States Forest Service|access-date=December 30, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028125813/http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/pinconl/all.html#26|archive-date=October 28, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In accordance with a better understanding of the role wildfire plays in the environment, the National Park Service and other land management agencies have developed Fire Management Plans which provide a strategy for wildfire management and are expected to best enhance the natural ecosystem.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fire Planning and Policies|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/parkmgmt/fireplans.htm|work=Fire Management|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=January 2, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120715002310/http://www.nps.gov/grte/parkmgmt/fireplans.htm|archive-date=July 15, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref>