U Wanna Rant??--Here's 1!!!

If anyone makes a statement similar to "Global Warming will be a good thing..." Take them for a little drive through the Rockies.

This is what I'll remember most about my first trip to the Snowy Range in WY. But it could be anywhere in the world really. This is a worldwide phenomena. It's the biggest environmental disaster of our time. It dwarfs the gulf oil spills and big fires. Yet the national media largely is blind to it. Not sure why--are we embarrassed or ashamed by our legacy to our children and their children??

This has occurred largely in the last 5-10 years. 10 years ago, the Wind River Range was green, as were the Tetons, RMNP, and most of the Rockies. Now, I invite you to contradict my assessment--show me a large forest that wont be brown within the next 5 years. I thought the Sangres might escape--nope. When I climbed Marble Mt last week, I was saddened to see that 50-60% of the S Colony drainage is now dead. I spent an hour hiking the first mile through the woods, because of hundreds of blown down dead trees that block the trail/route. Am I mad? You bet I am. Invasive species, poor management, and just plain arrogant stupidity just **** me off.

Think the above shot was just an anomaly? NOT! Here's what it looks like 20 miles away, and every acre in between looks just like this. Think it's just dead trees? Ask the pine martens and woodpeckers who live here what they think of this mass extinction.

Here's a closer look at what our children will enjoy of our National Forests. Take a good long look. This is our legacy.

Great topic, Stan. I've never denied that there is such a thing as Global Warming though I think there is room for debate surrounding just how much effect the Human Race has on the cycle. It definitely is not getting cold enough in the winters to freeze out the bark beetles. That combined with the aggressive posture taken towards fighting wildland fires and humans' propensity to want to build their homes in fire zones then scream bloody murder to have someone save them has essentially killed our beautiful forests. The beetles don't go away naturally...they have to be frozen or fried.
I blogged about this for the first time back in 2006 when I realized just how bad things were getting. A drive from Denver to North Park revealed that over half the trees visible from the road were infested with beetles. With higher temps in the winter, the only other solution is to burn them out. Ma Nature did that for thousands of years without our help. These days, not so much. I say when fires start, let 'er burn.

Yup, its completely disheartening to see what has happened in the last 10 years. The only way to avoid it is close your eyes and head for treeline.

"Invasive species, poor management, and just plain arrogant stupidity just **** me off."

Me, too. And so do extreme environmentalists who have gummed up the works with protracted lawsuits and the resulting 'analysis paralysis' that hobbles the Forest Service.
I am not a climate change denier, but there are no solid links or evidence tying this event to global warming. If there are, then by all means please enlighten me.
Does anyone know if events like this occurred previously before written human history? We are but a flash in the planet's existence, you know.

John, I'm not an entemologist (sic) but I did study Forestry Technology back in the dark ages. One field trip I remember very clearly was to a nearly dead clump of woods on the east slope of the Cascades where our instructor who was an entemologist carved a piece of bark off of a dying Ponderosa Pine and showed us all the little trails that the bark beetles had carved in the cambium layer, eventually girdling the tree and causing it to die. He pontificated at the time on the two methods of controlling pine bark beetles: 1. They can be frozen out but that requires very cold winters. 2. They get burned out. Of course there is a 3rd option and that is they kill off the forest and move on to the next one.
The link of dead forests to global warming is that winters are definitely getting warmer and in recent years haven't been cold enough to freeze out the beetles. Couple that with the BLM and USFS policies of aggressively fighting wildfires that may potentially destroy government or private dwellings and you've broken the natural cycles of fires controlling the beetles in the warm decades and cold killing them in the colder decades. Hence, dead forests all over the Rocky Mountain West.

As far as how frequently these events have occurred in human history, I can't speak to that. I'm very old, but not quite that old.

John,

There are recent articles in which some scientists are claiming, based on tree ring growth, the current American drought is the worst in 800 years. In my part of the world, the sub-Arctic, we had temperatures that touched near 100F for a couple of days. Both weather and climate, and they are related but not the same, have always been changing. The concern, from my reading, is the rapidity of the current changes which are said to be unusual .

I appreciate the replies. The 800 year estimate is rather close to the timeframe of the historic drought that may have caused the Anasazi to abandon the Colorado Plateau.

There are other effects of warming beyond colder winters not killing the beetle larvae. The trees are adapted to colder weather, and the warmer weather and drier conditions stress them. That makes them less able to mounts defenses against diseases and parasites like the bark beetles. We've seen the impact in Alaska: vast stretches of Chugach National Forest and the lands on the north side of the Chugach Mountains are denuded of White Spruce thanks to the spruce bark beetle. Normally, it's a pest. Milder, drier weather has made it a scourge. The overwhelming evidence is that the climate change here is anthropogenic.

I have thought it is ironic that among the people who are dismayed at environmental losses like this and also believe it is the result of man's activities so few have made significant changes in their life style. There are big roles government and industry need to play, but also some responsibility at the personal level . The trees are bad enough, but food and water supplies in third world countries may be at risk....if you believe some experts.

Good topic. the same thing is happening here in the PNW, especially Central Oregon. I read it's some type of invasive Japenese beetle. The piece didn't mention Global Warming it was more focused on how devastating non-indiginous species can be to the environment. If it all ends somewhere down the road it will just be a resetting of the clock.........nice knowin'ya.

Roger, yes--in fact as i type there is a story on the news about the current drought and how food prices will go way up this year, along with implications for a worldwide food shortage. I hear you about hypocrisy--but I also know that just as one vote won't decide an election, actions must be taken en masse.

John--I don't know as much about the Pine Beetles as I do about S.A.D (sudden aspen decline) but the phenomena are likely related. I've talked to scientists studying these die-offs and there is pretty much universal agreement that the biggest cause is the warmer winters, combined with the drought and other stresses. That permits a larger percentage of larva surviving the winter and over time leads to the epidemic. That's why most of the heavy kill is in the lower elevations--above 11-12000 feet not so bad (yet). Could this have occurred in the past--i don't know. I know it hasn't occurred in recent history, and my own (non-scientific) sense of why this is happening is that this is not a natural event. It doesn't smell right I've seen other forest kills (the wooly adelgid kill in the Smokies comes to mind--and that was invasive) but nothing of the scope of what has happened recently. It's mind-boggling, really.

It really isn't a political cry in the sense that there probably isn't much that can be done at this point, but I do find it unfortunate that probably 100 times as much money/resources is thrown at creating Reality Shows or Campaign attack ads than is spent trying to understand/attack these environmental threats.

Interesting article about the adelgid, which mentions the beetle and drought connection.

http://www.fws.gov/northeast/climatechange/stories/adelgid.html

I agree, Stan. The media has just almost totally ignored this cataclysm. It puzzles and confounds me My husband and I vacationed in the Estes Park area many years before actually moving to GJ, and to see such large swaths of forest in RMNP die so quickly was very, very sad.

Thanks, Stan. I appreciate the info.

"The media has just almost totally ignored this cataclysm."

This is simply not correct. There have been all sorts of stories in the newspapers and on television over the years concerning this problem. A Google search brings up articles from the New York Times and the L. A. Times immediately, and I just scratched the surface. I'm surely not the only one who has seen and read those reports over the years.

That's true, John--there are occasional articles. IMO, the scope of the problem is not evident in the media though. It should be frequent national front page (admittedly it is in some local communities) Look at the barrage of media coverage for the High Park and Waldo fires for example. Now, obviously I understand that this got huge attention because people's homes were involved and because of the dramatic, sudden nature of the events. I would argue that this is foolish myopia. Ironically, The beetle kill fueled the High Park fire and yet that was largely buried in the stories about the fire. Like Angela, I'm puzzled.

Bill--speaking of fires, as an aside I will say that one of the most annoying things I heard during the fires was a statement by a USFS 'expert' who said: "The forests are designed to burn" (implying that these fires are a 'healthy' cycle for the forests). Sorry, that's ridiculous. Maybe he was thinking of the forests a couple hundred years ago. The forests today were largely 'designed' (shaped) by humans, and the fires today are largely (Waldo, for example, which what the 'expert was referring to) caused by humans. Nothing "natural" about it. The fires are burning in more extreme conditions, with more heavy fuels, and they're scorching the earth so that recovery is not a given. So I sympathize with the 'let it burn' idea--but it aint gonna be pretty.

As others have alluded to, there is no doubt there's been a perfect storm of events both political and environmental that is responsible for the current insect damage. I feel most sorry for the young crop of photographers coming up now. My son will never see Colorado or many Rocky Mountain forests like I had in the past.
What's done is done, so now I look forward to open forests with more wildflowers and if the moisture increases, the potential of a lot more Aspen forests.

Um, Ken, unfortunately S.A.D may ruin your hope. You been to Dallas Divide or Kebler Pass lately? Those large white/brown patches are dead aspen--and those patches have been getting steadily bigger each year. Latest estimate I recall is about 30% of the aspen are potentially affected--it takes a bit of time for the damage to appear, since many forests affected now wont die for some time. The cause of SAD is a combination of several species of beetle, a fungus (that takes advantage of the situation), all sparked by long-term drought and recent warmer winters.

If anyone makes a statement similar to "Global Warming will be a good thing..." Take them for a little drive through the Rockies.

Global Warming will be a good thing. Please take me for a little drive through the Rockies. I don't get up into the mountains nearly as much as I would like.

But seriously, I expect Colorado's landscape will change dramatically over the next five to ten years. These beetle killed forests are one lightning strike away from a massive conflagration. Some of the beetle kill is in such rugged terrain that the fires will burn until winter. After the fires there will be rock slides and mud slides that will expose new rock. Eventually there will be meadows with small trees. It's going to look a lot different. That might actually be an improvement over what you've documented in this series of painful pictures.

I hope the fires come soon. They're going to happen. The sooner we get it over with, the sooner we can start on the road to recovery. I have to say, it feels weird to be hoping for wildfires but there it is.

Stan,
In regards to SAD, it is primarily mature aspens that are susceptible to the disease and fungal attacks. And that is precisely why you're seeing this impact on Kebler pass with all those mature aspens. But I am optimistic that the moisture will return to create new vibrant Aspen forests. Unfortunately, for some of us old-timers, we probably won't fully see this conversion.
What we are witnessing is basically the conversion of habitats which is plant community succession, particularly in forests. The big difference, however, events are probably happening at an accelerated pace, due to the many factors already expressed. A few people I know who live in the High Park fire area are very upset that they had lost all the trees on their property and that is understandable. But in reality, they didn't own them, they were borrowing them until it was time for a new plant community to establish.
Our expections of what is "normal" for Rocky Mtn forests will have to be accepted if we want to move on and find other other opportunities.

I am an environmentalist and a Sustainability Manager by trade. I could fill more than a few posts on my views on this topic and the broader issues of overpopulation and reprehensible practices in almost every sector from food production to building practices to transportation to materials extraction, manufacturing, waste management etc. etc. etc. but this cartoon just about sums it up for me

http://9gag.com/gag/141807/

and the unfortunate reality is that the majority of humanity is too blind to the issues and too selfish to disrupt disrupt their modern day society in any significant way. Take for example the Sun Chips biodegradeable/compostable bag that was on the market for just a few months. It was quashed because people were put off by the additional noise the packaging made when it was crinkled. To right the ship, it will take adjustments/corrections much more significant than most republicans, democrats, midwesterners, northerners, southerners, Chinese, Canadian, European, Uzbeks etc, etc. etc. will be willing to make. must quit now before rant spirals

Warning..a broad paint stroke....For the most part, Media is all about the here and now/what have you done for me lately. Media provides that approach because that's what the people want. Thus the media stays alive and well and people get paid.

The GRADUAL deterioration of our forrests due to a myriad of proven and unproven reasons is not here and now and probably just doesn't excite the mass public. Sure, we'll see a Beetle Kill/SAD story every now and then however those stories just can't pick up steam and continue to draw in viewers. Thus the sad epidemic continues flying under the radar.

Great thread! Well...not great. You get what I am talking about. Ok, so I agree with Kane that this is epidemic is currently under the radar for the majority of people. Of course, I would think that more people in the affected areas know of what is happening and all of us hikers, photographers, campers, etc that visit the forum definitely understand what is going on. I live here in sunny SoCal....I know, I know, another sad epidemic ..... and I have to pause and think how many people in this area even know what is going on? Probably less than half of one percent. So, what will it take for more to understand what is going on and actually care? This would be a huge media feeding frenzy if all the grass in so cal caught some sort of disease or the beach sand disappeared. If SAD or the bark beetle kill happened widespread in a LA/SoCal or NYC or Chicago, suddenly it's no longer under the radar.

Along the lines of what some of you wrote...Mayor Bloomberg responded when asked about long term planning to prevent/reduce pollution in NYC, he essentially said that the reality is that people don't care unless it impacts them now, not 10 or 20 years from now. I think it is reality that many people just will not be impacted in any direct way by these die-offs. The other challenge is that those people who want to help don't know how to help this situation directly.

Not to make light of the situation, but maybe we all should focus more on photographing what is not so beautiful.
This fall, we can all go out and make perfect exposure and composition of diseased Aspens. Are we making too many beautiful images????

Thanks for the responses folks. This post was meant to let off a bit of steam but also to keep the dialogue open on this topic.

When I hiked up the trail at Sugarloaf, I walked by a man sitting near the outlet stream with his young son (6 or 7?). He saw all my gear and asked if i was a professional photog (common question!) He looked around with a twinkle in his eye and said,

"It's just so beautiful here, you should get lots of beautiful pictures"

I thought to myself, "what sort of feel good drug is he on? Is he oblivious to the miles of dead trees surrounding him??"

But rather than start ranting, i simply said, "Yes, it is, although the beetle kill is rather devestating"

He just seemed to reluctantly nod in agreement, while his son turned to him and asked about the beetle kill.

If there's any hope, it's that the next generation will learn from our mistakes.

Another interesting thing about the beetle killed areas is you'll find a few trees that are not affected by the beetles. These are usually younger growth trees. My understanding is the younger trees have a more vibrant sap supply which kills the beetles when they bore in. The old growth trees are more suseptible because of the reduced amount of sap. In areas that were logged, then replanted there is little or no affect. And of course, you add a drought which reduces the trees ability to produce sap and it gives the beetles another edge.
The area from Granby to Walden is a sad sad drive to make. Miles and miles of dead trees

I kind of have to agree, that there is probably not much that can be done about it now.

I also think it's true that we have our priorities all bass akwards! It's sad when the highest payed person on television is Judge Judy! Yeah, to the tune of about 45million a year. Also that we have shows like "MIllion Dollar Rooms" and the like. I watched one episode of that show that featured a huge home where every room in the house was a "million dollar" room. Just think what could be done environmentally, and philanthropically with all the excesses of wealth that so few manage to monopolize.

It's unfortunate, and I hate to say it, but it seems that we are the most invasive species on the planet. We will most likely be the cause of our end.

It will be far different forests that my grandchildren will experience, if there are any trees at all by the time they are my age. So very sad, and I like Jimmy G's comment that if it was near a large metropolitan city it would get daily news time.

I'm not even sure about that Morris--for whatever reason it seems people are able to tune this thing out even when it's in their face. I saw loads of folks in the ntl forest camped under the dead trees (you wouldn't catch me under all that dead wood!) and ive seen many multi-million dollar mansions surrounded by the same. True, the papers in Aspen and Breckenridge etc have stories about the problem, but the word doesn't seem to get to the national media, despite the prominence in these local media-friendly communities. Somewhat ironically, the stories there are often about entrepreneur ops--beetle kill furniture, lumber and the like.

Rich--if i have any optimism its that the mortality rate isnt 100%--it's often around 90% even among the mature trees. There are a chosen few that have been able to survive due to genetic variation or whatever. Course that doesn't help us landscape photographers any, but it offers something to study and understand.

I'd like to see the powers to be allow the areas impacted to be either logged out, or the dead trees cut down. .It wouldn't take long and the aspens, and in time conifers would be back and scenic again. I know in some areas this is already taking place.

I'd have to agree with Richard about logging. Even if the wood is worthless, seems like we need to get the kindle out of there. Like Stan eluded to, I've heard that while hundreds of years ago fires naturally cleared things out for re-growth, fires today get so hot that they scorch the entire landscape and totally kill everything.

People build houses on the beach only to be surprised when a hurricane destroys it. Beach communities are finally starting to get the message, preventing additional seawalls to be built, moving back reconstruction efforts further away from the shore, etc. Meanwhile our management of the forests hasn't changed - we keep repelling back natural fires only to be surprised when a huge one eventually comes along.

PS -> I live just outside the Routt National Forest and while I obviously don't ask for my home to ever burn down, I'd rather rebuild my burnt-down house and protect nature for future generations than selfishly win a battle to loose the war.

I am going to chime in on something I don't see anyone discussing. I see several times it mentioned that it has not been cold enough to kill off the beetles. However, I am not certain that is really going to happen unless we have record lows. According to everything I have read in the past and found online today as well, it needs to get EXTREMELY cold...and for long periods of time to kill off any significant number of beetle and beetle larvae. Supposedly, it needs to hit -30 degree F for consecutive days (and not just as an overnight low) to have any real impact.
Here is some information from CSU: http://www.today.colostate.edu/story.aspx?id=3069

Great discussion item Stan. One thing we can all do is buy firewood close to where you burn it if you are going to burn firewood. Helping others to become aware of the problem of moving invasive pests will help a little bit too. Not the same as figuring out how to stop major polluters. It would really help if the major companies would put more effort into finding and making clean energy like solar and even Hydorgen fuel cells available at a reasonable price to consumers. There is still a lot of money to be made on petroleum products though.

From the USFS: http://www.na.fs.fed.us/firewood/
This camping and hunting season, get your firewood from a vendor close to your destination. Don’t pack your own! Invasive insects and diseases in dead and dying wood threaten our native trees and forests. If you move firewood, you could be giving these pests a free ride to new territory.

One thing I noticed in 2008 while driving through British Columbia was all of the dead trees from the bark beetles. Followed shortly by huge catastrophic forest fires. Same thing in the San Bernardino mountains of Southern California, and now the Gold Spotted Oak Borer is working its way into San Diego County.

Please at least do what you can to help and help spread the word.