Massive Beetle Kill!

I was aware of the beetle kill from a previous post on this forum, but nothing could prepare me for what i saw along highway 9 and I70 the other day, driving to wrn CO. I was absolutely horrified to see 100s of thousands if not millions of acres affected, pretty much the entire forest between Georgetown and Vail. Between Breckinridge and Frisco is especially bad, entire sections of forest are 100% brown. Something about those multi-million dollar homes surrounded by dead trees. I saw this area last year, im pretty sure it's much worse this year.
Whats amazing is that just seeing this it's obvious that this is a monumental natural disaster, yet the national media apparently is more interested in the latest actress in rehab, since i hadn't seen much about the topic until i actually did a search. Here's a recent RMN article describing how 90% of the forest will shortly be dead. I believe it. A blog called the environmental group in the article "cretins and morons". Obviously a touchy subject. I find it hard to believe this is a natural process, but am skeptical that drought/fire supression has helped spur the advance. But im no expert, though after my experience this weekend i'm certainly going to learn what i can.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5655445,00.html
Better take a few shots of our remaining green trees before it's too late.

I posted something titled "The national tragedy no one's talking about," or something like that, last year or late the year before. This is what I call forest MISmanagement! I've seen the occasional brown tree in the San Juans and other places, indicating that this will probably spread there now that it's so devastated the northern part of the state. You're right, if you want grand scenics with pine forest included, you'd better get busy. This will change the look of Colorado for the rest of our lifetimes. Perhaps in 20-30 years' time these places will become the most extensive aspen forests in the world. One can hope...

Same story in the Grand Lake area. I was certainly shocked since I had not seen any stories about how bad it was before my visit in June.

I had the same thought - get those RMNP park shots with green trees while you still can.

Bark Beetles SUCK! In 2000, when I moved to Los Alamos, I was all bummed out about the Cerro Grande Fire burning 46,000 acres of my beautiful green mountains. We bought a house on 2 acres of thickly wooded pinon pine. The next year a few of the pines in my yard died from beetles. The next summer I cut down 60+ pinon trees from my two acres (some >100 years old!). 90% mortatlity rate. It was heartbreaking. As if the fire wasn't enough, now entire hillsides, canyons and mountains of trees that did not burn turned red/orange and died from beetles! Mostly pinon pine but also some pondersoa and spruce. In places, the beetle-kill was as far as you could see. It's really horrible.

There is nothing you can do either. Once the beetles are in the tree--its a gonner. You can bank on a bunch of fly-by-night companies trying to sell you some kind of spray to "control" bark beetles. Its a scam! The bark beetle explosion is due to drought conditions and stressed trees. Its a natural thing but that doesn't make any easier to stomach. There are no effective insecticides--I researched this extensively when all my trees were dying. After the kill you then have extreme wildfire conditions with forests of tinder-dry dead trees. Now, 6-7 years later, the dead trees are no longer that bright red/orange but more of a light gray/tan (and not as obvious as before) and new grasses and trees are growing up so things don't look as bad anymore but the forests are different and will not be like they were for 100s of years. Its tough to accept and sad to see happen but it's nature's way of dealing with drought and forests that are too thick. I am really saddened by this news.

Perhaps in 20-30 years' time these places will become the most extensive aspen forests in the world. One can hope...

Probably will first have to all burn down or be removed, since the aspens supposedly are quickly dissapearing due to "conifer encroachment" and "fire supression".
Phillip: yep its a national problem. Ive seen bad examples of it previously in the Smokies and in AK, but i must say what ive seen in CO really is a whole new level. As you said, it's sad.

Grand Lake was one of the first places that I noticed the disaster. The town ran out of reimbursement funds for spraying trees, so they are resorting to tax donations. Unfortunately, it's much too late. The pine kill is starting to work its way through Fairplay and down 285. I've had to take down a dozen trees so far. We looked at getting trees sprayed (some sort of waxy stuff that keeps the beetles away) on our property, but it is really expensive if you have a fair amount of property and needs to be applied annually. We need a REALLY cold, sustained winter to kill off the beetles. Here is an interesting picture that shows the spread between 1996 and 2005:

http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=1330292

I was up in North Park 10 days ago and the beetle kill I saw from Winter Park to Walden was horrific. I can't remember being so depressed when heading for a weekend in the woods. The BLM that oversees Colorado State Forest State Park has a grasp and they are selectively thinning forests by removing the beetle killed trees. Not much short of clearcutting but a little. On the federal level, there is nothing in place to deal with the problem. I know it won't happen but perhaps the Forest Service should adopt the National Parks' wildfire policy. If there are no lives or property threatened, "Let 'er Burn." Spraying with chemicals has, to date, proved largely ineffective leaving fire and natural selection as the best alternatives.

While it's way too late to see improvement for most of us in our lifetime, we need to come up with a plan for future generations. If you know who your congressman is, write or e-mail him. If you don't know, why not?

I lose a few trees every year to the pine beetle, but so far it hasn't been too bad. One tree on my property has been hit thousands of times by beetles and it is still thriving. I wonder if I could sell that tree's DNA?

The kill off in Grand Lake is horrific and I doubt if it will be much longer until we see comparable damage in RMNP.

RMNP is horrifying along the west side until about the campground; the composition of the forest changes significantly around there, and it looks like that section of the park may be spared - or at least one can hope.

Beetle kill is starting to spread east of the divide along I-70; no indication on where the beetles flew this year that I've seen, but you can count on an increasing area of carnage unless we get a really cold winter really soon.

Perhaps in 20-30 years' time these places will become the most extensive aspen forests in the world. One can hope...

This is exactly how I look at it too; you have to or you just get depressed. But driving home from the San Juans a week or so ago via 285 left me even more sad. The aspen forests from Kenosha through Fairplay look absolutely terrible. They are brown or without leaves on 70-80% of them which I hope is a 1 year thing, but if not, that aspen disease they had articles on last year is taking a severe toll in these aspen colonies.

Hoping for the best,
Craig

Dave, A healthy tree isn't bothered by the bark beetle because the sap keeps most of them from getting a real foothold on the tree. Thats why the drought has been so devistating in the southwest, the trees are too weak to fight back.

There are many areas in Northern NM that look like what you are discribing for the CO area.

I had the same thought - get those RMNP park shots with green trees while you still can.

That's what I'm trying to do. It is moving fast and I'm seeing some concerning signs of the beetle on the east side of RMNP as well.

Interesting article on the beetles at:

http://www.hcn.org/export/highanddry5mb.pdf

Art L.