No, seriously: part of the reason they're so prevalent now is because of a lack of forestry management for many years. I keep telling people that trees are living things, explaining the life cycle, explaining the various diseases and pests that kill weakened and elderly trees already nearing the end of their life cycle, but year after year the environazi cry has been NO NO, DON'T TOUCH! Now the beetles have spread unchecked for years, adding to the already high risk of fire due to the buildup of normal deadfall at least tenfold. Same thing has been happening in Florida...though Governor Bush had badly infested areas logged off despite the environazi temper tantrums, in order to help contain the pests and (and this is a Republican) SAVE THE TREES. Which was exactly the opposite of what the environazis were doing.
The enviros don’t want to save trees, they want to destroy the logging/building/trucking/sawmill businesses. It’s called anticapitalism.