Pine beetle fight intensifying ( To minimize forest fires )

Grand County News...Associated Press ^ | July 10, 2006 | AP

[george76]

This ski town has stepped up its campaign to battle pine beetles, which have killed countless trees and threatened others in the surrounding valley and nearby counties.

Everyone including residents, local government and giant resort operator Intrawest Corp. has been footing the bill to blunt the bugs’ impact on a swath of the state whose economy depends heavily on its scenic lands.

“The situation will get worse. It’s one of those things that grows exponentially each year,”...

During a Front Range outbreak in the 1970s, the government launched a $20 million program to control the beetles.

But now, perhaps more than ever, property owners and municipalities have been shelling out the money required to thwart the beetles and deal with the damage they cause.

The U.S. Forest Service is more likely to be providing training and advice on managing beetle kill areas.

“This infestation is breaking all the records,” said Mike Ricketts, winter sports administrator from the Sulphur Ranger District of the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest. ``It's unprecedented.''

``All of our property tax and then some for the last three years has gone to the pine beetle mitigation,'' ...

[george76]

I hope that you are correct, but I do not see much of an improvement coming in the way our public lands are managed.

McInnis got the Healthy Forest passed and Bush signed it. But the clever Sierra Club lawyers have pretty much blocked it.

Maybe Pombo can get some more Congressional changes, but the Sierra Club lawyers will find more weak, emotional Judges to block that too.