This causes perhaps a bit of unease, but according to this L.A. Times article, trees out West are fading fast.Methinks we need more trees, not less. Those pesky bark beetles, among other factors, are partially to blame.
Of course, if you're dodging those lovely tall green things on the slopes, there might not seem to be any tree trouble. Haven't really noticed fewer trees out here in Utah...but what's the tree situation in Colorado these days, as far as y'all can see?
4 comments:
colorado is being hard hit up in the north central (grand, jackson counties) with 100% mortality in their forests. elsewhere we have sudden aspen decline (SAD) and various beetle infestations.
but those insects aren't pesky. as the scientists like to say, they're within the "natural range of variability" of our forests. what has changed is human encroachment into forest areas by expanding trophy homes, developments, etc.
infestation, fire, regrowth -- it's all part of the ecological cycle (read Panarchy, by Gunderson & Holling or check out wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panarchy
we just need to get a better handle how we can step into ecological cycles and improve them with our human feedback loops, not exacerbate the situation (clearcutting anything but aspen, too much fire suppression, failure to thin)
100% mortality rate? Really? Huh. Do you have a link for stats on that? I'm curious...in a morbid way.
I do agree with the human encroachment scenario. As usual, we're responsible for a lot of the mess we find ourselves in! Go figure...
okay, there was a spot i visited when i was up there last, on the ground, and there was 100% infestation, and likely close to that in mortality. but that was one spot.
the infestation is huge, nevertheless.
check this site
http://www.skyhidailynews.com/article/20081020/NEWS/810209989/1067&title=Grand%20County%20cops:%20Beware%20falling%20beetle-kill%20trees
or type "grand county beetlekill" into google and find your own citations.
Check this out -- a good NPR radio show about dying Western trees:
http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/200901237
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