This aerial photo is an example of some of the ongoing attempts to handle the pine beetle epidemic in Grand County.
The area shown is along the north shore of Lake Granby. The area to the right... has undergone “mitigation” with hundreds of diseased trees having been cut down and removed.
Much of the densely-forested area to the left shows the characteristic rusty-red color of trees that are either dead or dying of beetle infestation. (Photo by Tonya Bina)
"...near the western entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, the beetles already have caused far more damage to the landscape."
That's awful.
The trees you see in the ariel photo are located in a wilderness area, I think it's the Indian Peaks Wilderness. No roads or cutting is allowed. The town of Grand Lake is located at the bottom of the picture and has many diseased trees in town. When this baby goes up in flames, it will not be easy to stop. I fear the town will be destroyed.
I live in Tennessee and we went thorugh this about four years ago. I live on a wooded acre and had more than 20 handsome pines before the beetles got to work. After the did their thing one or two pinese were left. Eight went down in my front yard. Another four or five went down in my bakk yard, with a couple landing in the swimming pool. You folks out west have my strongest sympathy.
Worked southwest of Steamboat in 1985 on the Routt NF, back then it was the spruce beatle. That picture looks like the Targhee NF did right before it burned in 1988. (The Targhee NF is located on the western boundry of Yellowstone).
It is sad in that forest policy has gridlocked to the point that it will take a large catostrophic fire with loss of life to change the way things currently are.
