Millions of dead trees in the Colorado Mountains (Aspen, Fraser: live, cost of)

[BayAreaHillbilly]

If fires were allowed to burn in the first place, pine beetles would not be the issue they are. Suppression has instigated the environment for the pine beetle explosion throughout the West. Ironically the die off from the beetle will give us fire storms no one can stop - they'll just go until they burn out.

Last year's firestorm here in California was like a mini nuclear winter, it actually reduced crop yields.

Add to that increasing volcanic ash and -SO4 from a seeming uptick in world wide volcanic activity, a quiet Sun, negative PDO, and the coming wars of mass destruction - here we have the ingredients for famine exceeding anything ever experienced previously by Humans.

We won't be worrying about population (well, maybe the lack of it) in 2050. Or for that matter, 2020.

You'll be lucky (or perhaps not lucky) to be alive.

[Weekend Traveler]

Yes, eventually in 50 years the dead trees will fall and decompose and new trees will take their place, but I will not be alive then.

Would a better option be to cut down all the dead trees and use the wood for something valuable and plant new trees in their place instead of having to look at hillsides of brown dead trees for fifty years? Or should they just let nature take it's course?

[jjbradleynyc]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

If fires were allowed to burn in the first place, pine beetles would not be the issue they are. Suppression has instigated the environment for the pine beetle explosion throughout the West. Ironically the die off from the beetle will give us fire storms no one can stop - they'll just go until they burn out.

Last year's firestorm here in California was like a mini nuclear winter, it actually reduced crop yields.

Add to that increasing volcanic ash and -SO4 from a seeming uptick in world wide volcanic activity, a quiet Sun, negative PDO, and the coming wars of mass destruction - here we have the ingredients for famine exceeding anything ever experienced previously by Humans.

We won't be worrying about population (well, maybe the lack of it) in 2050. Or for that matter, 2020.

You'll be lucky (or perhaps not lucky) to be alive.

Well said. ugh...

Uncontrolled sprawl, in addition to irresponsible interference with nature, are causing horrific damage in this country. When will the bad practices stop?

[Shuffler]

Originally Posted by jjbradleynyc

... When will the bad practices stop?

When money does not override common sense.

Sadly, I don't think the bad practices will ever stop if there's a buck to be made and a taxpayer burden to spread around...

[CosmicWizard]

The roots of the problem lie beyond the borders of Colorado. With the advent of global climate change, the Colorado winters have not been cold enough or long enough to kill off the beetles.

[treedonkey]

Originally Posted by Weekend Traveler

Or should they just let nature take it's course?

The problem is that nature really CAN'T take it's course, at least not it's normal one, under the current conditions.

[CosmicWizard]

Oh I think we will see nature take it course, and it is not likely to be very pretty when it does.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by Weekend Traveler

Yes, eventually in 50 years the dead trees will fall and decompose and new trees will take their place, but I will not be alive then.

Would a better option be to cut down all the dead trees and use the wood for something valuable and plant new trees in their place instead of having to look at hillsides of brown dead trees for fifty years? Or should they just let nature take it's course?

Because of Colorado's steep, erosion prone slopes, the lack of market for large quantities of lodgepole timber, and the high cost of logging in a high-altitude short-season environment, large-scale logging is neither environmentally or economically feasible. Nature is going to have to run its course, and that will include "mega-fires" the likes of which we have never seen. Nature will correct a century-plus of resource mis-management and stupid development policies in a very violent manner--likely violent enough to shock the sensibilities of most Coloradans and certainly the many non-Coloradans who have some fantasy view about the bucolic nature of the mountain environment. That environment is unpredictable, violent, intolerant of human intervention, and often inhospitable to the human species. We're about to get a very un-subtle reminder about that.

PS--The "browning" of Colorado is not limited to lodgepole. I just read an article today reporting that Sudden Aspen Decline--the yet not totally explained die-off occurring in many of Colorado's splendid aspen forests--is still accelerating in rate of die-off and in overall extent.

[DOUBLE H]

There is very little that I can add here except the fact I was just through Vail on yesterday coming back from Denver on I-70. The dead pines are all around the town. And huge areas on I-70, especially between Silver Plume and the Eisenhower tunnel. Pretty depressing.

[80skeys]

I don't mind the development and I dont' think the Vail area looks ugly, I think the setting is quite nice and the homes of course are nice.

The other issue is the bark beetle infestation. And I guess I don't mind that either because it's a natural occurrence.