The mechanisms that determine the spatial structure of ecotones are not entirely understood. The structure of an alpine treeline ecotone is likely determined by an interaction between plant physiology and the underlying harshness gradient, and these influences are modified by neighbor interactions among the trees. The stress gradient hypothesis (SGH) postulates that neighbor interactions are inhibitory at the benign end of the gradient and facilitatory at the harsh end of the gradient. Through neighbor interactions, the current spatial pattern of a treeline will influence the future pattern, thus it is essential to understand the extent these interactions influence treeline structure. This project hypothesized that seedling establishment and growth at this site could be modeled with a linear SGH. The study analyzed seedling establishment and growth with respect to canopies of adult trees (derived from a drone based orthomosaic) at a 380m by 90m treeline site on Pikes Peak, CO. The field site was divided into four equal sized zones along the elevation gradient. The results indicated that neighbors influence seedling establishment and growth differently. The density of seedlings in each zone reflected patterns of seedling establishment across the entire site. Transition 1 had the highest seedling establishment, which indicated that seedlings preferentially established away from adults in the lower two zones but established randomly in in the upper two zones. Data regarding 10-year growth showed seedlings grew somewhat better outside the 1m tree buffer across the entire site (t=-1.804, df=224, p=0.073). In the Forest Zone and Transition 1 there was no significant difference between seedling growth inside and outside the buffers. In Transition 2, seedlings grew significantly better within the buffers (t=2.552, df=33, p=0.016). Across the entire site, the growth in the Forest Zone and Tundra Zone was lower than the growth in the transition zones (one-way ANOVA: F (3,222) = 32.936, p<0.005). Additionally, a kriging interpolation of 1-year and 10-year growth for all seedlings, seedlings inside the 1-meter buffer, and seedlings outside the 1-meter buffer indicated that seedlings grew best at intermediate levels of stress. The results of this study indicate that the relationship between neighbor interactions on an underlying stress gradient at this site can be described with a linear model in regard to seedling establishment and a hump-shape curve in regard to seedling growth. Additionally, signals of neighbor influence are better detected over longer growth periods.