• Aspen communities are biologically rich and ecologically valuable, yet they face myriad threats, including changing climate, altered fire regimes, and excessive browsing by domestic and wild ungulates.
• Recognizing the different types of aspen communities that occur in the Great Basin, and being able to distinguish between seral and stable aspen stands, can help managers better identify restoration needs and objectives.
• Identifying key threats to aspen regeneration and persistence in a given stand or landscape is important to designing restoration plans, and to selecting appropriate treatment types.
• Although some aspen stands will need intensive treatment (e.g., use of fire) to persist or remain healthy, other stands may only require the modification of current management practices (e.g., reducing livestock browsing) or may not require any action at all (e.g., self-replacing stable aspen communities).
