Millions of dead trees in the Colorado Mountains

[DOUBLE H]

A perfect example of dead trees is pretty easy for me to find. When you're eastbound on Interstate 70, getting ready to go downhill as the Silverthorne exit is just down at the bottom of the hill (mile marker 205), look straight ahead. That small mountain that you're looking at is almost completely brown; either that or I've gone color blind. You don't have to look far in Vail for it, or from Georgetown to Idaho Springs. I shudder to think when the fires will occur here, and like Jazzlover says, it's not a matter of if, but when.

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by DOUBLE H

A perfect example of dead trees is pretty easy for me to find. When you're eastbound on Interstate 70, getting ready to go downhill as the Silverthorne exit is just down at the bottom of the hill (mile marker 205), look straight ahead. That small mountain that you're looking at is almost completely brown; either that or I've gone color blind. You don't have to look far in Vail for it, or from Georgetown to Idaho Springs. I shudder to think when the fires will occur here, and like Jazzlover says, it's not a matter of if, but when.

I noticed last week it appeared to have gotten much worse since I had moved away in 2007. Fire is inevitable, but I think the pine beetle is directly related to man interfering in natural fire and putting out every fire right away. It's cleaning the forests, except now due to interference, it's now on a wide scale.

[JTinTx]

This is a very good thread -thanks for all the great info on this subject. I started noticing large tracts of beetle-killed pines in Northern Colorado back in the 70's and the problem has grown many orders of magnitude since then. When fire finally comes it is going to be BIG!