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In Colorado, quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.)�is widely regarded as a species of great ecological, economic, and aesthetic importance. In response to needs expressed by landowners and land managers, we partnered with those groups and developed a state-and-transition model (STM) specific to aspen dominated ecosystems in western Colorado. We surveyed soils, vegetation and presence and intensity of browsing on 68 plots across 4 different study sites, including adjacent plots on similar soils with and without aspen, and aspen sites with and without burns and clear cuts. To identify potential plant communities and states, we performed agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis and selected clusters using indicator species analysis. We used Multi-response Permutation Procedure (MRPP) to determine whether or not potential communities differed significantly by species composition. We then determined whether or not these communities are distinct states by using MRPP to test for differences in functional characteristics. Finally, we used Nonmetric Multidimensioanal Scaling (NMDS) to relate species composition to static abiotic drivers and dynamic management and disturbance variables (fire, browsing, and clearcutting). We will present our draft models and describe how the results of our analyses were used to create locally relevant STMs for the sites in which we worked.