Foresters:
Colorado beetle infestation getting worse
Denver (AP)
The Fence Post-Sept. 8, 2003
Beetles already have destroyed more woodlands than Colorado's worst wildfire did last year, and foresters say the insects can't be stopped.
"We call them six-legged fires, and they just keep going, "said Dave Leathermann of the Colorado's State Forest Service.
While the Hayman forest fire, the worst in state history, burned on 137,760 acres last year, the mountain pine beetle claimed 209,000 acres.
Since 1998, foresters have mapped about 600,000 acres of pine beetle kill.
"It's natural. The drought and heat have speeded things up,"said Frank Cross, forest health director for the U.S. Forest Service's regional office in Lakewood. "We can't stop it, but we can control it in small areas."
Drought conditions weaken trees and speed the reproduction cycle for some types of beetles. The bark beetles lay eggs under tree bark. When the eggs hatch, the young beetles chew into the host tree and fly off to infest another tree. The tree dies of dehydration, disease, damage to its nutrient uptake system or combined factors.
"All we can hope to do is provide a degree of protection to those areas by investing in thinning, spraying and removing trees," Cross said.
Spruce beetles were found in less than an acre of trees in 2001 but spread to 2,000 acres by 2002. They may have killed another 66,000 acres this year, he said.
A similar outbreak in Colorado more than 30 years ago lasted for 15 years.
"It stops when it kills all the trees or if there's a severely cold winter, " Cross said.
The next challenge could be the 11 varieties of ips beetles, including one type that is already infesting pinon trees.
"I haven't seen them in 30 years, but last year we saw about 16,000 acres of them," said Leathermann. "This year, millions of trees are dead from it." He said the exact amount of damage is unknown.
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