Lick Creek historic photographic series: a century of change in a ponderosa pine forest in western Montana, US

This photoseries contains 14 photopoints from the Lick Creek Demonstration/Research Forest where repeat photographs document forest change from 1909 through 2016 following harvesting, prescribed burning, and succession. The Lick Creek site is a managed ponderosa pine forest, located in the Bitterroot Mountains within the Bitterroot National Forest in Western Montana. These photoseries document forest change typical of dry ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Lawson & C. Lawson var. ponderosa C. Lawson) forests in the West when fire is excluded. In 1909, the Forest Service sent a Washington Office photographer to document the sale using a view box camera and glass plates. In 1925, many of the original photograph locations were re-located and 13 were permanently monumented in 1938. A 14th location was re-located in 2015. Photographs from most of the photopoints were taken in 1909, 1925-1927, 1937-1938, 1948, 1958, 1968, 1979, 1989, 1997, 2009, 2015, and 2016.
These photographs were taken after the original 1906 harvest and clearly show evidence of subsequent harvesting; they are not intended to reflect pre-EuroAmerican conditions. Their value lies in showing how low-elevation ponderosa pine forests of the Northern Rockies change over time when managed and fire is excluded.
Original metadata date was 06/04/2018. On 06/04/2019 this data publication was updated to include a new supplemental file and reference to a recently published article. On 06/01/2021 minor metadata updates were made.