Quemazon

Quemazon (or Quemazón, from Spanish "quemazón", burning) is a place name with multiple uses in the southwest United States. A related place name is "Quemada" (from Spanish "quemada", burnt). A place called Quemazon typically is a high mountain valley or canyon with abundant aspens, specifically Populus tremuloides. These stands of aspens result from catastrophic wildfires; succession after such fires typically begins with scrub oak, followed by aspens for many decades or centuries, followed eventually by conifers such as ponderosa pine.

An aspen stand that grows up after a wildfire tends to be very uniform in age. For this reason, and because reproduction in this species is largely clonal, these stands are subject to mass mortality (dieback) as trees in a stand reach the end of their normal lifespan more or less simultaneously.

In New Mexico, United States, the area that was completely burned over during the Cerro Grande wildfire in 2000 included Los Alamos Canyon. Along this canyon since before 1900 a trail known as Quemazon Trail was an important route across the Pajarito Plateau and over the rim of the Valles Caldera. [Mountain Elementary School Sixth Grade (2004) "Quemazon Nature Trail Guide", Los Alamos County Open Space, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 8 pages.]

ee also

*Quemada
*La Quemada
*Queimada

References