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PROJECT GREEN

Beetlemania

How a tiny bug is ravaging Colorado's forests

By Jim Moscou | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Jul 22, 2008 | Updated: 4:20  p.m. ET Jul 22, 2008

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  • Posted By: schwaninger @ 08/07/2008 11:21:26 PM

    Comment: In the early 1980s, north central New Mexico had a bud worm infestation. Same problem, trees dying by the millions. The solution was not to treat individual trees but to aero spray the whole forest., after the removal of environmentalist from lying on the runways. It was either spray and possibly kill some of the wildlife or let the forest die and all the wildlife with it. They went ahead with spraying the forest and today it looks as good as ever.

  • Posted By: LIKEITIS @ 07/30/2008 10:57:35 AM

    Comment: DISPITE THE CURRENT (GOOD IDEA) GREEN DIRECTION THAT THE U.S.A. AND THE WORLD IN GENERAL, WE SEEM TO HAVE ALOT OF MISUNDERSTANDING OF MOTHER EARTH AS WELL AS OUR (U.S. CITIZENS) "NATURAL RESOURSE SAVINGS ACCOUNT".

    CLEARCUTTING SHOULD BE A LAST RESORT(AND IT LOOKS LIKE THAT IN THIS CASE), BUT CONTINUALLY ........THINING............ OF OUR FORESTS IS A NECESSITY, OTHERWISE WE THROW AWAY A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF A RENEWABLE AND ALMOST INEXHAUSTABLE REVENUE PRODUCING RESOURSE!

    SOME WILL SAY THAT IT IS NATURAL TO LET FORESTS GROW SO DENSELY THAT THE SUN CAN NOT PROVIDE ENERGY TO 95% OF A TREE BECAUSE IT IS SO CLOSELY SURROUNDED BY ITS' BRETHEREN, BUT IT IS IGNORING THE LESSONS THAT THE EXPERTS HAVE OVER DECADES OF RESEARCH LEARNED....................SPECIFICALLY THAT THE FOREST WILL REGENERATE MUCH FASTER AND THERE IS LESS DANGER OF UNCONTROLABLE
    WIDFIRE IF OUR FORESTS ARE THINED AND THE UNDER GROWTH IS MANAGED.

    SAME GOES FOR DRILLING FOR OIL, I WISH FOR US TO BE A TOTAL ELECTRIC CAR SOCIETY, BUT THE OIL CONTAINED ON NATIONAL PROPERTY IS ONE WAY TO ACTUALLY PAY FOR ALL OF THE GOOD IDEA SOCIAL PROJECTS THAT ARE SO NEEDED.

    UNTIL WE FIND OTHER WAYS TO FUND THE IMPROVEMENTS TO OUR SOCIETY, (AND STOP ELECTING IDIOTS FOR PRESIDENT THAT ONLY LIVE TO THROW OUR AND OUR CHILDRENS TAX DOLLARS AND FUTURES IN THE CRAPPER) WE WILL NEED TO USE THE NATURAL RESOURSES THAT CONSTITUTE A GREAT DEAL OF OUR NET WORTH!

  • Posted By: peteow @ 07/25/2008 2:03:50 PM

    Comment: Come to central Utah and go into the Dixie National Forest or the Manti- LaSal National Forest. Then after you have fallen in love with the color orange, (which fully 1/3 of the pine trees are), get on your computer and make a donation to the Sierra Club, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, U S National Forest Disservice or the idiot of your choice. After all, don't we live in a desert, trees have no place.

  • Posted By: pinkpanther87413 @ 07/23/2008 1:04:07 PM

    Comment: Scorced earth policy is fine with Uncle Sam! What do We the People have to do with it,, we have no choice they make for us,, do we???

  • Posted By: stuartbw14 @ 07/23/2008 1:00:33 PM

    Comment: Hmmmm.. Interesting how the "environmental" movement who were chaining themselves to trees 15 years ago to oppose logging, have not lifted a finger while beetles have destroyed the majority of Western U.S. forests. Makes me wonder if it's really the environment that they are fighting to preserve....

    • Posted By: Nor-Cal for Obama @ 07/23/2008 18:04:04

      Comment: Blaming the environmentalists for a bug outbreak? Give it a break, and read the facts.

  • Posted By: TheMontana @ 07/23/2008 12:13:54 PM

    Comment: The Old Timers in Montana would put out a vat of oil per acre which attracts the beetles and stops the spread before it gets bad, I don't know what kind of oil or how much a vat is, but we need to have forest management. The good thing is that the small pine trees are not kiied. The Spruce Bud Worm is now becomming epidemic in Montana and if alllowed to continue, it will blanket kill all of the fur and spruce trees. Again, we need to have forest management like done all over Europe where the local people are in charge of their own forests and are proud of their back yards! Wait unit the Spruce Bud Worm comes, it is really ugly. There are environmentaly safe insecticides out there now, we just need forest management!

    • Posted By: LIKEITIS @ 07/30/2008 10:59:14

      Comment: INTERESTING.

  • Posted By: TheMontana @ 07/23/2008 12:13:36 PM

    Comment: The Old Timers in Montana would put out a vat of oil per acre which attracts the beetles and stops the spread before it gets bad, I don't know what kind of oil or how much a vat is, but we need to have forest management. The good thing is that the small pine trees are not kiied. The Spruce Bud Worm is now becomming epidemic in Montana and if alllowed to continue, it will blanket kill all of the fur and spruce trees. Again, we need to have forest management like done all over Europe where the local people are in charge of their own forests and are proud of their back yards! Wait unit the Spruce Bud Worm comes, it is really ugly. There are environmentaly safe insecticides out there now, we just need forest management!

  • Posted By: pinkpanther87413 @ 07/23/2008 11:50:14 AM

    Comment: Who cares the forest are in the way of the trees, and besides as we enter the nuclear age, we don't need trees for nothing. So let them die, all of them, every where! So you need a movie to show your grandkids what a tree USED to look like, before we debated them into exstinction! Really who needs trees any way??

  • Posted By: pinkpanther87413 @ 07/23/2008 11:46:06 AM

    Comment: Nope can't believe!! Bush and Cheney say it's not real, so it's not! why worry?

  • Posted By: clnewman2000 @ 07/23/2008 9:46:05 AM

    Comment: well its time for logging in Colorado as well as most of the states. If you don't log the trees and make it into a viable product, lumber, paper etc, then it will burn and that can be a waste but a further factor in carbon emisions. Its time the green aligned to think about use of resources into viable products.

    • Posted By: pinkpanther87413 @ 07/23/2008 11:51:02

      Comment: there only good for burning, but who cares any way?

  • Posted By: nelson1776 @ 07/23/2008 9:23:40 AM

    Comment: This is mostly a result of the Forest Service and it mismanagement of the forests. Instead of allowing the removal of stressed trees and following generally accepted forestry practices, they followed the policy that no management was the best. In the 90's they were presented with reports saying that this would be the result. They ignored them and followed politically correct forestry. Compare the USDA's forests to privately managementd prorties and you will see the difference.

  • Posted By: pissed-off @ 07/23/2008 8:02:54 AM

    Comment: sorry to but in on this subject but it's early and I just wanted to say Obama's is doing a great job representing himself the Senate,his family,his voters and most off all the Afro American race for this show 's that we can not only be diplomatic but can speak for ourselves and do carry a valid opinion on world veiw's hey not only is the black race proud of you but America can stand on this too as a platform on civil right's for all go get um buddy'''

  • Posted By: Jack999 @ 07/23/2008 6:13:40 AM

    Comment: Yeah right.....kill the beaver saves the wood.

  • Posted By: FReiGHTie68 @ 07/23/2008 5:23:29 AM

    Comment: This is what we get for preventing forest fires. Its natures way of replenishing the forests. Every time we stop a fire, less fertilization occurs making whats already there that much weaker. When will we learn?

  • Posted By: ngy460 @ 07/23/2008 12:13:06 AM

    Comment: they say pine beetles make prurty good soup,someting like lentels only better ,y'all goes out and gathers ya some ,and help save the forests,

  • Posted By: Artemis1 @ 07/22/2008 9:59:01 PM

    Comment: Yes, tsides22, you are right. Nature destroys too, and it can be brutal. It is all part of the WHOLE PICTURE of the cycle of things, and insures the renewal of all living things. Around my mountain home, I have watched something as benign as humming birds and the brutality hummer shows to another - not wanting to share.... It is all about survival and yes, it can be brutal. It is all a very delicate cycle and whenever we interfere in a large way there are large repercussions. Whether it is the environmentalists or the "oil & gas Behemoths", the results can be similar and devastating. I watched my home area be destroyed when, after decades of over-vigilant fire suppression, our forests became overgrown with crowded, weak, sick, old trees and serious overgrowth of underbrush. Then there was a fire no-one could stop that burned for 3 weeks at a temperature of 2500 degrees (not the usual 250 degrees). The result was not a cleansed forest but a totally destroyed forest including seared soil ??? followed by rain and mud slides. Talk about destroyed wildlife and a ruined habitat!!! The problem is that both groups see the situation from very narrow points of view and are too focused to see the whole picture. Each side then develops an emotional attachment to their cause and it moves from the cause with some valid points to a war against the opposition. At that point all objectivity is lost and no-one is talking rationally. On the one hand, we do need to use some of the resources of nature not just to survive but to live reasonably comfortable lives, but we need to be vigilant of how much and how we get it, etc. Environmentalism is a good and necessary concept ??? but it too must be tempered in reality. Like nature things must be in balance. It???s all about moderation!!!!

    Also??? To unraveled13, unless you live in a cave in the desert or woods where there is no road or significant trail, and have no car, no TV, no gas, and posses only a minimal number of necessary household tools and clothing items, then you too (like most of us) are part of the ruined environment problem. We don???t NEED ¾ of the things we have (like being hooked up to the internet typing on this note on this computer) ??? but we don???t want to give them up???. I do know a few people who live that way ??? but not many ??? (and I am not one of them) ??????not even most of the environmentalist I know!

  • Posted By: carroll272 @ 07/22/2008 9:07:31 PM

    Comment: First of all, the pine beetle infestation is a natural phenomenon that has been exacberated by warmer days, longer and warmer summers, and shorter and warmer winters. In the article, it states the stands are 80 years old and, therefore, should be dying soon. However, historically lodgepole pine stands in North Central Colorado have a historic range of variation--or the period between stand-replacing events of more than 100 years, and up to 150 years in Colorado. (http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/Volume_1/pinus/contorta.htm under "reaction to competition"). This means that the last fires in these pine stands occurred between 1850 and 1900--before the practice of widespread fire suppression started. So, if these stands are only 80 years old, they should still have another 20 years or so before it's time for a stand-replacing fire. The point is, it's not too late to do the right thing when a fire starts--which is to let it burn. People living in lodgepole pine stands need to understand they choose to live in a fire-dependant ecosystem, which means it is VERY important to have defensible space around buildings (and it sounds like people such as pejsar are doing the right thing and reducing fuel loads on their land).

  • Posted By: carroll272 @ 07/22/2008 9:05:04 PM

    Comment: First of all, the pine beetle infestation is a natural phenomenon that has been exacberated by warmer days, longer and warmer summers, and shorter and warmer winters. In the article, it states the stands are 80 years old and, therefore, should be dying soon. However, historically lodgepole pine stands in North Central Colorado have a historic range of variation--or the period between stand-replacing events of more than 100 years, and up to 150 years in Colorado. (http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/Volume_1/pinus/contorta.htm under "reaction to competition"). This means that the last fires in these pine stands occurred between 1850 and 1900--before the practice of widespread fire suppression started. So, if these stands are only 80 years old, they should still have another 20 years or so before it's time for a stand-replacing fire. The point is, it's not too late to do the right thing when a fire starts--which is to let it burn. People living in lodgepole pine stands need to understand they choose to live in a fire-dependant ecosystem, which means it is VERY important to have defensible space around buildings (and it sounds like people such as pejsar are doing the right thing and reducing fuel loads on their land).

  • Posted By: Artemis1 @ 07/22/2008 8:58:44 PM

    Comment: Yes, tsides22, nature destroys too. But it does so in the natural cycle of things which is ESSENTIAL to the survival of a healthy earth and the renewal of all living things. And Yes, nature can be brutal. I watch around my mountain home how even something as benign as humming birds are brutal to other humming birds - not wiling to share- it is the nature of survival. HOWEVER - sometimes WE interfere with natural cycles which are necessary either because we feel they are so destructive (environmentalists) or because we alter environments in destructive ways so we can use nature's products or land. (oil & gas behmouths). Either way - environmentalist or "the oil and gas behemouths " - the result is devastating. Both groups have messed with the environment. The issue is not that both groups have had a hand in the "Interruption,or altering of natural environments, but the extent to which each group is narrow in their view and blinded by their fixed vision on their goal. The Environmantaist vision is always good - it is the fact that they , like the oil & gas , lumber, etc people have a distorted view of where to go in and when to leave nature alone. So while the orignal intent is good - both groups are out of hand at times. I have watched my home area almost destroyed by the fact that for decades fires were so controled that the forest grew into an unatural tangle of sick old trees and overgrown underbrush. Then there was a fire no-one could stop that burned for 3 weeks at 2500 degreees (not the usual 250 degree fire). The devastation was horrible and the ground was seared. Sometimes even those of us who want to protect the environment go overboard too. the result is as bad as the oil & gas people when they are out of control. The key is moderation and keeping emotions under control so we can look at the facts - not get so attached to our ideal of saving nature or using nature for our gain that we can no longer see the whole or objective picture.

    And .... unless you live under a rock in the woods or on the desert where there is no road, gas or electricity, do not own a vehicle and own only a few items of necessary clothing, then, you, like most of us are perpetuating the need to obtain natural resorces and thus are part of the probelem too.

  • Posted By: Poodle Momma @ 07/22/2008 7:32:22 PM

    Comment: You know SOMEONE will trace this back to MAN MADE pesticides creating the "super beetles," right?
    It's always man's fault, just because people have trouble realizing that God can be sarcastic too.

  • Posted By: unraveled13 @ 07/22/2008 7:05:07 PM

    Comment: You're absolutely right. If not for those damn environmentalists, we'd be breathing poisonous air, drinking toxic water and saying goodbye to all of those worthless species of animals (Polar Bear, etc.) that no one around Colorado has even seen during the entire lives anyways. I can't believe how shortsighted some people are. Maybe when all the trees are gone, the oil and gas behemouths who run Colorado can finally have their way and poke a hole in the ground every 2 feet to extract whatever's left of the fossil fuel below the dirt and infect our groundwater with chemicals whose contents the government doesn't even know because the contents are "trade secrets!" Yeah, those damn environmentalists. If I had one wish, it would be to spend one day...tomorrow...living in a world where the "horrible environmentalists" wouldn't have "screwed anything up." That way, maybe moronic, short-sighted people who think the way you do may actually see that there is some benefit to them.

    • Posted By: pejsar @ 07/22/2008 20:05:55

      Comment: Why is it everytime someone goes on a rant around here their user name is always something like "unraveled"? I live in the lodgepole forest outside of Central City Colorado. It absolutely is true that most of the problems I face are the result of "feel good" environmentalism ie: no burn policies run amok. I spend a lot of time trying to keep the thousand or so trees on my property healthy. We are doing that by cutting down two thirds of them. I actually can speak for people around here when I say natural resource management by committees that meet at Starbucks in San Mateo or Berkeley or even Denver (sorry if you live there) don't have anything to offer us at all. Just a bunch of city people trying to tell us they know more about what we need than we do.

    • Posted By: pejsar @ 07/22/2008 19:59:47

      Comment: Why is it everytime someone posts something close to a rant their handle is alway something like "unraveled"? I live close to Central City Colorado, in the lodgepole forest. It is true, that the diseased state of the current forest is the direct relust of "feel good" environmentalism ie: no burn policies. I spend a lot of my time trying to improve the health of the trees on my land by cutting two thirds of them down. People that are "unravleing" have no right to act on my or my neighbors behalf. If it wasn't for idiots in cities trying to manage natural resources from their local Starbucks, some of these problems wouldn't be problems.

  • Posted By: Colorado08 @ 07/22/2008 7:02:49 PM

    Comment: Montana- Thank you so much for your concern for the residents of these mountain communities. Regardless of who is at fault- you should never wish forest fires on anyone or any area. If and when the fires happen it is going to be devestating.

  • Posted By: montanaborn @ 07/22/2008 6:45:51 PM

    Comment: serves them right as far as I'm concerned I was a logger in the area in 1999-2003 and I tried to warn the local residents and forest service officials in the area that if they didnt get very proactive and in a hurry that the devistation would be horable but the environmentalists and the doo gooders refused to listen or to let any action at all be taken...now everyhouse in the area from Salida to Vail is at risk to the horrible fires that are sure to ensue in the next couple of years it will happen its enevitable and the fires will burn so hot it will scorch the ground so that nothing will grow for years afterwards....but by all means let the evironmentalists dictate the way everything is done IT SERVES THEM ALL RIGHT LET IT BURN

    • Posted By: Want A Change @ 07/23/2008 11:57:33

      Comment: Let's see: if I had a choice between the exploitation of the forests by Republican backed, clear-cutting, winner take all mentality, or, a don't-burn approach that has gone astray and needs to be modified; I'll take the latter any day of the week. I'll take the error of the do-gooder's, environmentalists and a basic conservative approach to our resouces as compared to the scorched-earch policy of the Republicans. The decimation of the earth can be traced directly to the door-step of the GOP and their policies. Consume, consume, consume instead of conserve, conserve, conserve. Screw the GOP.

  • Posted By: tsides22 @ 07/22/2008 6:40:39 PM

    Comment: what???? nature (the beetles) destroying nature (pine trees)???? I thought only devilish and dastardly humans were nature-wreckers??? i guess i was mistaken...

    • Posted By: mbondr @ 07/25/2008 12:00:23

      Comment: Global warming has rendered this biome untenable for the lodgepole pine. It's happening with other trees and plants too. They need to be replanted in more northernly climates. Colorado needs to clear and replant with more appropriate trees for a much warmer climate as quickly as possible. They need to think ahead as what kind of look they're going to want in the future.

  • Posted By: kopette @ 07/22/2008 6:34:14 PM

    Comment: And one tiny lightening strike and you can say good bye to the forest from Grand Junction to Montana to New Mexico....This is not just an infestation of Colorado. And the environmentalists thought Yellowstone fires were an "answer"....this will make that look like a birthday candle!

  • Posted By: KRANKANKOR @ 07/22/2008 6:20:14 PM

    Comment: I built custom furnniture in a colorado mountain town for nearly 14 years. Many of the most beautiful pieces I made were from Beetle-Kill lumber. After the tree dies it picks up multi-colored minerals from the ground and rain creating streaks of blue brown green orange and black. I couldn't get enough of it!

    • Posted By: sirensong4 @ 07/22/2008 18:29:38

      Comment: Careful what you wish for! ;-)

      • Posted By: D875320 @ 07/23/2008 12:17:47

        Comment: I think we need to pray for the Earth and attitudes around the world need to change. Global warming is false as global cooling was false when they said so 30+ years ago. However, the U.S.A. needs to take up the mantle of leadership and reduce, reuse, recycle and use nuclear energy. We need to drill off-shore because if we don't then places like China will and so it just makes sense. Have Faith in God.

        • Posted By: pinkpanther87413 @ 07/23/2008 12:55:47

          Comment: Have faith??? If my kids treated there toys, as we treat this planet! I would drop it in the garbage, and NEVER give them the same, to repete the same either! Nor would I accept a wish from destructive beings who can't even live together or get the one IDEA the Bible has to offer, LIVE IN PEACE! Americans can only live when taking what we please, cause we can! BTW Lets bury the nuclear waste in your yard not mine! NUCLEAR ENERGY SUCKS! IF YOU HAVE A BYPRODUCT WHICH IS UNDISPOSABLE, DANGEROUS, LEATHEL, AND FOREVER!! DON'T MAKE MORE OR PAY 25,000 A DAY FINE FOR DUMPING, FOR A 2 MILLION DOLLAR DUMP JOB! OUR OCEANS DON'T LIKE IT, NOR DOES YOUR GOD!

 
 
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