Steve Taylor

Colorado losing Battle

Since I joined this site many people have said that they need to get to Colorado. Well you might want to consider that sooner than later.
For the past few years pine bettles have been destroring the forest land of our beautiful state. It is estimated that Colorado has lost close to 10% of the forest. The bettles kill the lodge pole pine which pretty much cover the mountains of Colorado. Some experts say the forest as we know it could be gone in 5 to 10 yrs.
I live in Eagle county which is one of the worst hit. Grand county is the worst with as much as 50% dead. We have a friend in Grand county that told us his eight yr old daughter had to draw a picture of the Rocky Mountains at school and colored them brown.
Well ,we still our Aspen trees.

mieclarke, 7 months ago

Ohhh what a shame! wish i cud go there maybe the spring time better than winter…?
HELUA, 7 months ago

Sorry to read this. I had not heard about it until now.
hilarydougill, 7 months ago

What a sad story, you would think in this day of technology they would find a way of stopping the little pests, wouldn’t you? Years ago in English Schools there were big posters up showing the ‘Colorado’ beetle, but this one age our potato crops,and the posters were there so you knew what to look out for, and report if seen. I believe they still have them in Police Stations. Hope they sort it soon and stop the carnage.
Steve Taylor, 7 months ago

Maybe the saddest part is it will take up to 100 yrs to regrow. I am close to Vail. Ski resorts like Vail, Beaver Creek,Brenenridge and Steamboat Springs are being hit hard also. You can tell when someone is from out town when they ask about the “red pine trees”
Steve Taylor in reply to mieclarke’s comment, 7 months ago

Fall is the time to see Colorado
Dave Sandersfeld, 7 months ago

I was born in the foothills above Denver and watch in disbelief what is happening in Colorado my native state. Sadly from and environmental engineering prespective, you still will have aspen and scrub growth and majestic mountains.
Dave Sandersfeld, 7 months ago

The lack of snow due to global warming is causing this and no way Coloradoans can stop this. The same beetle kill – another variety – is destroying forests in Idaho? In theory, a new forest will grow; but no one knows what that forest will look like adapting to the new global warming conditions. Meta-seqouia trees used to cloth the West before the Ice Ages during Miocene?
Dave Sandersfeld, 7 months ago

Huge piles of snow used to freeze out the beetles. I have a childhood memory of my dad starting a path in the snow between the house and the barn – when it started snowing in october. When the snow level was over his head -along this path to the barn – he placed boards over the path to keep the snow out – so he could feed the livestock all winter. 70-foot of snow was common in the foothills of Denver in 1950s?
Dennis Rubin IPA, 7 months ago

Thanks, Steve, for sharing this information
mwfoster, 7 months ago

We lost 10 of are 30 pine trees in East Texas. We have resorted to the Japanees way of fighting them with have and pesticide it cost about 800 a tree but our vacation spot is worth presurving.
Globalphotos, 7 months ago

It doesn’t matter where we live we have evidence of devastation when it comes to our natural environment, very sad situation. Always evident when you travel to a particular area and return 10 years later, sometimes the effects of human/ and or other activities are quite shocking.
Nick Johnson, 7 months ago

Here the problem is mainly wildfire although pine bettles are an issue as well. We lost so much of our forests the past 15 years. Especially last summer. Things are changing and I cant say that I like it. I really dont know what is “normal” anymore. One extreme to the next. This coming summer should be better unless the moisture stops. Now massive erosion is going to be an issue in burn ares this spring.
whitetiger790, 7 months ago

OMG I had no idea that my home state was battling a dire situation. Cant the state spary for that?? There has to be a way to destroy those beatles and still keep the ecosystem in balance.
AdamDonnelly, 7 months ago

I’m no expert on your area but my understanding is that these beetles are native to the area & I’m not discounting the very real affects of global warming but from what I’ve heard the approach of dealing with these pests is to remove the pest affected trees & thin the forest out. The problem with removing pest affected trees (dead or not) is that it removes habitats for predators of the beetles & nutrient recycling which would help build stronger healthier less pest-prone trees. Chemical control would be immensely labour intensive. Maintaining a strong biodiversity is the best defence.
mwfoster, 7 months ago

Spraying is not effective for pine beatles they dig under the bark and eat the sap going to the tree. The best defense for them is to rap the trunk of healthy trees with cloth or hay that is treated with a pesticide. The hay is better because it degrades and the outer layers don’t have to be treated so not to hurt the other life in the forest.
Curtis Bard, 7 months ago

Steve,
This sounds like serious stuff. Maybe you could start a new group on RedBubble that would at least bring some of these environmental issues to the attention of RedBubble users. – A small but still important contribution to these emerging issues.

Or alternatively post to the GAIA, Environmental Awareness, or Natural Developments groups…

Thanks for keeping us informed!
lonebearimages, 5 months ago

I worked for the USFS for years in western Montana. While extended droughts can weaken the lodgepole pine in an area where they become more susceptible to invasion by bark beetle; the beetle is part of the cyclical evolution of a healthy forest. Lodgepole pine is a seral species and typically only lives about 100 years, and is ultimately replaced by climax species, such as spruces, firs, and Douglas firs. So, while it is a blight to look at; in the long run a different forest will slowly follow.

There are also pathogens and insects that infect spruces and firs (e.g., spruce budworm moth) of western forests; and all of these pathogens and insect pests go through feast and famine cycles.

The Colorado River Basin is currently experiencing the tail end of about seven or eight years of drought. By no means is it a drought of record (that occurred over a 2-30 year period in the late-1200s); but it is severe enough to reduce the ability of some species of forest trees to fight off these pests.

Anyhow, Steve, enjoy your summer in Moab, and good luck with your photography traveling shows. Cheers! Chris
Patricia Montg..., about 1 month ago

On our last visit to Colorado in early July ‘08 we were shocked and also saddened by the vast numbers of pines that had succumbed to beetles. Take those photos NOW so that we’ll have something to remember those beautiful lodgepole pines. The forests are diappearing fast.