Posted on 08/27/2007 8:19:00 AM PDT by george76
An unstoppable wave could devastate 3 million acres of lodgepole pines.
Mountain pine beetles are obliterating a forest that stretches from British Columbia to Mexico, and in the process are creating a hazard for fire, public safety and water supply.
“What we’re looking at is an entire lodgepole pine forest dying right before our eyes,”...
Severson described the problem to the Colorado Water Congress at its convention last week....
More than 22 million acres eventually will be destroyed in the American West. Meanwhile, the beetles are making their way across Canada toward the Atlantic Ocean as well.
The lack of logging has created a higher proportion of large, older trees in the forests. They’re all about the same age and equally vulnerable.
The damage is spreading faster than in the past, with 660,000 acres of trees destroyed in 2006 alone, and this year’s total still being counted.
The U.S. Forest Service has brought other agencies into a cooperative effort, but can’t move fast enough to contain the problem, Carroll said. Private landowners are doing most of the work of thinning trees so far.
About 15 years prior to the disastrous 1988 Yellowstone fire, there was a massive beetle infestation...
“We need to manage forests for a healthy forest to reduce threat of fire,” ... Sen. Jack Taylor...cited a blow-down of 20,000 acres of trees in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness area of the Routt National Forest associated with the October 1997 blizzard that buried Southeastern Colorado in snow.
“It was so jack-strawed, even the game couldn't get through,” ... There was a weakening of trees and the trees started turning red. ... We need to get what wood we can, get some value out of it, not leave kindling for a big fire."
(Excerpt) Read more at chieftain.com ...
“ What eats bark-beetles? “...Bark sharks?
Are you from Revelstoke? I spent three years in Mica. (Ya better like snow.)
Foresters have a scientific solution, but are prevented from acting by Sierra Club lawyers.
Many communities like South Lake Tahoe are prevented by liberal politicans from cleaning up around their own homes.
Thus a small fire explodes when the flames enter the neighborhood.
The people who violated the law and cleared away fuel away from their homes...still have a home.
Many of the people who followed the politican’s demands...lost their homes.
LOL.
Alberta is smarter than us.
Private people generally are good managers of their private lands but the feds are in big trouble.
I was listening to Dr. Walter Williams on Rush's show on Friday, and he said volunteers had eaten 34 ounces of DDT over a period of 1 1/2 years, and there were no side effects.
“Hopefully the Canadian politicans are smarter than ours.”
Ha! Good luck with that.
That's series!
So what? That is nature at its best. We would have only used those trees to build more houses to encroach on nature’s wetlands or threaten some indigenous grasses, etc., or to make paper to print right wing propaganda.
These massive fire have, are, and will also pollute the air and the water supplies.
The heat is so high and for such a long duration that it kills everything in the soil.
Ash will kill fish, turtle, frogs...that depend on oxygen in the water.
and ...
Same for us here in Tennessee about three years ago. I own a partly wooded acre in west Knox County. Before the beetles hit I had about 30 or 40 tall pines on my property. Now I have one or two that survived. The same thing happened all over east Tennessee and devastated the pine forests.
Is that Mica Creek on Lake Revelstoke?
Nah, I just camped on the shore of the lake for a few days in July during my cross country trip.
Not too keen on snow but sure appreciated when we were there though.
Took the road up the mountain and walked the trails.
It was very hot in the mountain top meadows and coming upon patches of snow was a great relief.
Sam cooled off by licking it, while I rubbed some on my face...brrr...ahh.
Holy camera angle Batman!
OK - (hangs head) - it’s not a cow 8^)
You have a great homepage - love your “10 Commandments...”
ROTFLMAO
I'm always asking him, "Sammy, are you a cow?" when I catch him eating grass.
Good question for a forester : “ What eats bark-beetles?
__________________________________________________________
chainsaws
We clear away dead and dying trees promptly to allow the healthy trees a better chance.
It seems to be very effective.
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