Lodgepoles’ Last Stand Mountain pine beetles,
once little-known pests, have achieved infamy as they continue to decimate lodgepole pines. From Colorado to British Columbia, an aging forest is under attack from the tiny beetles. “The infestation as of last fall [in Colorado] was 1.5 million acres,” says Susan Gray, group leader for forest health protection for the U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Region. “Those are staggering results.” There are only 1.7 million acres of pure lodgepole pine forests in Colorado. No human action can effectively stop the beetles as they fly from tree to tree, burrowing in the bark to hatch their larvae. The epidemic must now run its course, and within three to five years, most mature lodgepoles in Colorado will be dead. “That’s if the infestation continues at its current rate and intensity,” says Gray. “The most important thing that has set back previous infestations is really cold weather.” The combination of drought-weakened trees and unseasonably warm winters created what some call “the perfect storm.” Mountain pine beetles, which typically survive in stressed or weakened trees, are attacking even seemingly healthy trees. The beetles prefer evenly-aged stands of densely-packed mature pine. Most of Colorado’s lodgepole forests are the same age, and they are old. Mountain pine beetles are part of the lodgepole’s natural life cycle, and many scientists accept as inevitable the process of death and rebirth. They expect the forest will regenerate in a more diversified form that is less prone to such dramatic effects from insects, disease or fire. “Everyone, including the Forest Service, accepts there is nothing that can be done to stop the beetle infestation,” says Greg Aplet, senior forest scientist for the Wilderness Society. “The question is: Is there anything that needs to be done as a result of it?” Ted Wang, Granby’s mayor from 2004 to 2008, would answer in the affirmative. Wang has been extremely active on the beetle front through his involvement in the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments and the Colorado Bark Beetle Cooperative. Wang, who’s witnessed the die-off of 100 percent of the
lodgepoles on the west side of the Rocky Mountain National Park outside Granby, has been working to secure funding to cut down the dead trees. He says the biggest threats are to life, infrastructure and key watersheds. “Some of those things are threatened at the very least by falling trees,” says Wang. “But the big worry is a huge fire.” Wang and others support legislation introduced both at a national and state level to speed the dead trees’ removal. State Sen. Dan Gibbs, a Silverthorne Democrat, sponsored a bill last year that provided $1 million for matching grants for forest restoration, including tree removal and replanting in deforested areas. Projects selected under the Forest Restoration Pilot Program must protect water supplies. Pending senate approval, the program will be extended to 2012. Tom Fry, national fire program lead for the Wilderness Society, sat on the program’s technical advisory committee. He says that while the state’s driving issue is community fire-risk reduction, the Wilderness Society wants to free up land managers to spend time restoring the integrity of forest ecosystems. “This is a great bill because it transcends just the beetle issue, which is specific to one type of forest, and allows us to tackle some other forest restoration issues,” says Fry. As Fry points out, lack of funding continues to be the resounding theme. Another way to offset the costs of tree removal is to utilize the dead pine. “The wood has some commercial value for about five years,” says Wang. “As long as it’s still standing. After that, it’s good for wood pellets, biofuels, and non-structural lumber. It is degrading over time. Eventually it will become useless.” Not everyone believes the dead wood will increase the risk of severe fire. Says Aplet, “There is likely some added fire risk with the dry needles in the canopy. But the fire hazard drops dramatically once those needles fall. And in the decades after the trees fall to the ground, there’s no evidence fire hazard will actually be elevated.” Aplet notes that lodgepoles have a history where high-severity crown fires
were part of the forest. “The risk of those fires burning is true whether the leaves have green needles or brown,” says Aplet. The Wilderness Society is working to keep fuel-reduction activities focused near the communities where it will make a difference, as opposed to a landscapescale approach. According to Gray, the forest service is indeed focused on reducing fire hazards in areas where people are living, and in areas surrounding key watersheds. It seems with an infestation this large, it would be futile to attempt more. Though lodgepoles have been most severely affected, the beetles have also killed bristlecone and limber pine. Foresters predict the beetles will move into ponderosas next. “Because we can see it coming,” says Gray, “we have the opportunity to do more to increase regeneration in ponderosa pine stands. We’ll give the forest a head start for growing fast.” Some have suggested an upside to the beetle epidemic is the likelihood of increased water yield downstream. Kelly Elder, research hydrologist for the USFS Fraser Experimental Forest says it is still premature to say for sure. “Almost anything you do to the forest that reduces the number of trees is going to increase water yield,” says Alder. “But there’s a threshold in a snow-dominated hydrologic regime where you can actually decrease the water yield.” He says that is because the missing trees would affect snowpack accumulation. He also points out that a new forest will regenerate in the wake of the dying one. “A thirsty forest will still be there,” says Alder. “It’s an important question,” says Alder. “That’s why we’re studying it.” The gluttonous scientist in Gray finds the beetle epidemic extremely interesting: “I look at this and go, wow, this is a once in a lifetime event that we’re witnessing. No one in recorded history has ever seen something like this. But if you look at it from the aesthetics, the economics of the recreation community, the threat of wildfire, it’s also a catastrophic event for so many aspects of society.” q
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