Bugs chewing up trees across the West, raising fire danger The
Salt Lake Tribune By KIM NGUYEN | Associated Press July 20, 2005
VAIL, Colo. – The mountain views along Red Stone Road suggest
early autumn, with splashes of red, orange and a rusty brown
dotting the green hillsides above the homes and condominiums of
this Colorado resort town. But this is July and those colors
represent hundreds of pine trees that have been killed by
beetles. The tree mortality rate around Vail is striking, but
it’s even worse in other parts of Colorado and around the West.
It’s a problem that has grown sharply over the past several
years: According to Forest Service figures compiled for The
Associated Press, the acres of forest killed by beetles in 12
Western states jumped from 1.4 million in 1997 to 8.6 million
last year. Experts blame the infestations on a series of cold
winters, hot summers and drought. These stands of dead trees _
from the Apache National Forest in western Arizona to
Washington’s Olympic National Park and ex