[lainie]

Regarding the beetles, what should have been done about the infestation all along?

[CedarDave]

When they kill trees, cut them down immediately and remove them to kill the beetles and to eliminate fuel. But that requires logging equipment and roads, which are both anathema to environmental extremists.

[ridesthemiles]

The infected trees should have been allowed to be logged or cut for free for firewood by the people that use wood to heat their homes, like me.

There is about a 1 year window that the infested tree is usable by the log mills. After that, it is too deteriorated for them to salvage.
The enviros have blocked this salvage logging, stating that there were other insects and creatures that would make use of the tree. The tree becomes a massive fuel load for the fires you are seeing now.
Meanwhile, the bark beetle has spread expotentially. I ride alot on various trails in this area, mostly Tahoe Nat'l Forest. You can see one bad tree, then within 9 months or so, there are 3-6 trees gone bad, then, etc,etc,etc. Now there are whole stands of infested trees in the Castle Peak/Grouse Ridge area north of Interstate 80, near Donner Lake. Sen Boxer is trying her damndest to make thousands of acres there "wilderness". That restricts recreation usage, and prevents any mechanized unit from going into the area. Fires would be the next natural step in the destruction of the forest decimated by the bark beetle.
This massive fire loss has to be a catalyst to put an end to the actions of the enviros for the past 30 years. While most city dwellers don't get what the ranchers and rural dwellers have been worried about for years, perhaps this will make everyone take up the cause and we can have a class action lawsuit and cut these groups off once and for all.

[Oorang]

Well, here in Washington (Mt. Adams) IF the forestry dept. or private timber companies that own the land had been allowed to spray pesticide and then cut trees that were infested with the beetles very early on it could have been stopped, or slowed greatly. BUT NOOOOOOOOOOO, can't go cutting a tree down, even if it's diseased. Now, (about 10 years too late) you can look at the mountain and see entire swaths of "red" (dead) trees. Large areas of beetle kill. It's just massive amounts of essentially dry kindling; a massive fire waiting to happen.

Now the beetle kill is spreading down into the valley (where I live) at the base of the Mt. The forestry dept, just a few months ago, put out these trap boxes, to catch bugs to get a count. We just laughed.