'The pine beetle's deadly march' (Denver, Boulder: 2013, gated, campgrounds)

[Idunn]

"Where it (the beetle) would normally have a role in nature, it is now killing our best stands of pitch-pine in the lowlands — our biggest, oldest trees that have really just begun to recover from hundreds of years of brutalization by man. These are globally threatened ecosystems we spent millions of dollars to preserve," Williams said.'
- from referenced article


It is reported on the New Jersey City-Data forum that 14,000 acres of the New Jersey pine barrens have been affected by a bug similar to the MPB (see article referenced there):
http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-j...l#post16740870

The West Coast, California to Alaska, remains largely immune thus far, as far as I know. Although our changing climate has had certain effects. For specific examples, one might refer to places such as Crater Lake NP, or Olympic NP.

The bug in New Jersey appears a cousin, but not the MPB. However they operate much the same, for the same reasons, with similar result.

[delta07]

Originally Posted by Idunn

"Where it (the beetle) would normally have a role in nature, it is now killing our best stands of pitch-pine in the lowlands — our biggest, oldest trees that have really just begun to recover from hundreds of years of brutalization by man. These are globally threatened ecosystems we spent millions of dollars to preserve," Williams said.'
- from referenced article


It is reported on the New Jersey City-Data forum that 14,000 acres of the New Jersey pine barrens have been affected by a bug similar to the MPB (see article referenced there):
http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-j...l#post16740870

The West Coast, California to Alaska, remains largely immune thus far, as far as I know. Although our changing climate has had certain effects. For specific examples, one might refer to places such as Crater Lake NP, or Olympic NP.

The bug in New Jersey appears a cousin, but not the MPB. However they operate much the same, for the same reasons, with similar result.

All Pine Beetles are host specific, which means that the beetles generally stick to one species of tree. The pines in NJ are different than the pines in CO, so the beetle isn't the same, but the damage they do is all very similar.

I know here in Central Oregon we are certainly not immune from the pine beetle. Our lodgepole forests are mostly red now due to the pine beetle chomping their way through. I think part of the reason why many of the forests in the PNW aren't totally wiped out has to do with the diversity of those forests. Even if one species has been affected, it doesn't have the same impact as the homogeneous forests of the interior west.

[Idunn]

"It's a challenge that I've never seen," said Rick Cables, Rocky Mountain regional forester for the Forest Service. ". . . This context, the context of our times, with climate change and what we're seeing on the landscape, is a game-changer." [1]


For those having followed this issue there is not much new in this article, but it provides a concise summary of our forests to date, and where they are headed in the Rocky Mountain West. Ponderosa Pine are not touched upon, although other reports have them increasingly affected by the mountain pine beetle. But note that mention is made not only of pine, but species such as spruce and aspen being negatively affected by our warming climate.

Oblique reference to 'forest management' is disingenuous. These policies were derived during the Bush administration for loggers and others with no love of nature, and continued by the Obama administration. One aspect of this policy, of 'thinning' by removing the mature and young, as well removing most of the debris of the forest floor, may make for a good tree plantation, but in no way leaves a wild or healthy forest and ecosystem.

What would allow our forests to recuperate and thrive would lie in leaving them alone. Most particularly in their climate, to ameliorating the extremes they increasingly cannot adjust to. This the very thing mankind is least likely to do, but most critical if we are to retain for this generation and those to come a semblance of the environment we know today.

1) 'Warming is altering anatomy of forests,' The Denver Post
Warming is altering anatomy of forests - The Denver Post

[jazzlover]

There is no one single "formula" for forest management--and, in some cases, a forest reaches an ecological point beyond which human "management" is not possible. Most foresters that I know, when they speak candidly, believe that the pine beetle infestation is beyond the point of being managed by man. Nature is going to take its course, whatever that may be. Most likely, in the case of lodgepole forests, it will be mega-fires that burn up the dead and dying lodgepoles and allow them to reseed from their cones opening from the heat of the fires. That's nature's way and we probably aren't going to stop it.

In the case of the ponderosa forests, the thinning of trees and removal of understory is also a natural process. A healthy ponderosa forest has widely spaced trees not competing with each other for resources, and a low understory that does not allow fires to climb into the canopy of the trees. Some of the man-made forest thinning practices in the ponderosa forest are designed to replicate that natural process. Where they don't, disease and fire will "manage" the forest for us.

Sudden Aspen Decline is another challenge and may be the most difficult of all to try to stop. Aspen in much of the Rocky Mountain West are a subclimax species that became common in many areas when coniferous forests were logged off a century ago. So, aspen face decline and replacement in many areas by Mother Nature herself. Compound that with climate change (from whatever source), and Colorado's aspen forests may face a rather bleak future in many areas of the state.

One thing that the Colorado newbies and Pollyanna's need to get a grip on is the fact that the drastic changes occurring in Colorado forests are quite real, quite extensive, and are now happening in an unprecedented rapid time line. That is a fact and the people (like me, for example) who have been around Colorado's forests for decades will tell you that they are changing more rapidly than anyone alive has likely ever seen. Those changes are ominous--they don't only change the character of forests forever, they also change the character and quality of the watershed that they harbor. Diminished aesthetic qualities of the forests are a big potential "quality of life" issue, but diminished water supplies likely from Colorado forest changes will be a "life changing" (or life-ending) issue for Coloradans. Scary stuff.

[Mike from back east]

Got a new one to worry about, the Emerald Ash Borer, may lay waste to billions of dollars of Ash trees in Colorado. Story here.

[DurangoJoe]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Got a new one to worry about, the Emerald Ash Borer, may lay waste to billions of dollars of Ash trees in Colorado. Story here.

The emerald ash borer has been decimating the stock of ash trees in PA for years now. They get into residential neighborhoods and many of the beautiful tree lined streets around the cities are tree lined no more.

[sammy87]

I remember the ash borer in PA a few yrs ago. Is the pine beetle still an issue in CO? Did they ever figure out what caused the outbreak?

[jazzlover]

The various pine beetle species that infest lodgepole pine, ponderosa pine, Dougles Fir, and Engleman Spruce trees are still a major and growing issue in Colorado. The same decimation that started with lodgepole infestations a number of years ago is now rapidly decimating a huge chunk of Colorado's spruce forests. In southern Colorado, especially, the progression of beetle kill in spruce forests has been breathtaking. About the only thing that can slow or stop beetle kill in Colorado's forests is several weeks of viciously cold subzero weather--that will kill the beetle larvae in the trees. Unfortunately, Colorado's climate trends appear headed in just the opposite direction. Until that changes, Colorado's native evergreen forests are going to continue to die off at an alarming rate. And, of course, all those dead forests become a tinderbox that nature will eventually burn, just as it did this summer in parts of southwestern Colorado.

As for the cause of the beetle outbreaks, real simple: a century-plus of natural fire suppression compounded by years of drought and warmer than normal temperatures, especially in winter.

[cocaseco]

Originally Posted by sammy87

I remember the ash borer in PA a few yrs ago. Is the pine beetle still an issue in CO? Did they ever figure out what caused the outbreak?

Of course, more so than ever with n o end in sight. This will be an issue for your children's children.

[Colorado Rambler]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

The various pine beetle species that infest lodgepole pine, ponderosa pine, Dougles Fir, and Engleman Spruce trees are still a major and growing issue in Colorado. The same decimation that started with lodgepole infestations a number of years ago is now rapidly decimating a huge chunk of Colorado's spruce forests. In southern Colorado, especially, the progression of beetle kill in spruce forests has been breathtaking. About the only thing that can slow or stop beetle kill in Colorado's forests is several weeks of viciously cold subzero weather--that will kill the beetle larvae in the trees. Unfortunately, Colorado's climate trends appear headed in just the opposite direction. Until that changes, Colorado's native evergreen forests are going to continue to die off at an alarming rate. And, of course, all those dead forests become a tinderbox that nature will eventually burn, just as it did this summer in parts of southwestern Colorado.

As for the cause of the beetle outbreaks, real simple: a century-plus of natural fire suppression compounded by years of drought and warmer than normal temperatures, especially in winter.

It's like sitting at the death bed of your closest friend out here. The death of our forests is one of the worst things I've witnessed in my life time. I have pictures I took of the spruce forests 10 years ago in the San Juan. Even in that relatively short period of time, the degradation of the forests is both spooky and heart-breaking. I've hung on in SW Colorado despite the dearth of jobs, despite the lack of most amenities, despites the ups and downs in my personal fortunes. But I believe that one day soon, the death of all those trees will finally drive me out. A person can only take so much sorrow.