In Southwest Colorado, the spruce beetle epidemic started on Wolf Creek Pass in the late 1990s and took off around 2004. Now, the beetles have worked west through the Weminuche Wilderness, north toward Silverton and Telluride.<\/p>\n
Though the beetles are native to the land, the insects\u2019 toll has been exacerbated as drought, warmer winters and dense forests have created the perfect conditions for an outbreak that has spread at an alarming speed.<\/p>\n
At last count, the spruce beetle had torn through nearly 1 million acres of the Rio Grande and San Juan national forests, which, combined, total about 3.6 million acres, though not all of that land is spruce forest.<\/p>\n And there just seems to be no end in sight, Cain said.<\/p>\n In the 1950s, a bitter cold snap that brought minus-50 degree temperatures ended a beetle outbreak in the White River National Forest in northwest Colorado, but temperatures haven\u2019t reached that low in years, Cain said.<\/p>\n West added that studies in the 1980s found about 20% of beetles used to die over the winter.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t see that anymore,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But perhaps more important, Cain said, is the fact trees have been weakened because of drought, and are less able to fight off an infestation. And it appears in recent years, this could be the new normal.<\/p>\n While the spruce beetle has garnered the most attention for tree mortality across the forest, Cain said there\u2019s a pesky beetle for just about every tree species, and he fears these other insects may take off as drought conditions persist.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of beetles out there, and they\u2019re continuing to expand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Gretchen Fitzgerald, a forester for the San Juan National Forest, said reforestation projects on public lands showed high mortality this year, a result of bone-dry conditions on the landscape.<\/p>\n As another layer of complication, a late frost in June wiped out this year\u2019s cone crop for nearly all tree species, which is expected to affect natural regeneration, Fitzgerald said.<\/p>\n \u201cWith all these fires, we\u2019ve been trying to get our seed banks in order so we can respond with reforestation projects,\u201d she said. \u201cThe frost really impacts our ability.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, wildfires have plagued Colorado this year, with the Cameron Peak and East Troublesome fires becoming the first and second largest wildfires in state\u2019s recorded history, respectively.<\/p>\n And a late season wildfire west of Silverton in the San Juan Mountains showed that even high elevation forests are at risk. The Ice Fire, as it came to be known, was the first fire to threaten the town of Silverton in more than 140 years.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really just a sign of the times and the cycle we\u2019re in,\u201d said Michael Remke, a forest health research associate with Mountain Studies Institute.<\/p>\n Despite all this, there is reason to be optimistic, Remke said.<\/p>\n Forest ecologies are resilient, and while conditions may not return to the way things were, they do adapt and change.<\/p>\n Wolf Creek Pass, for instance, was devastated by the spruce bark beetle outbreak in the early 2000s. But in years since, new species have taken hold and exploded with new life on the forest floor.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, it\u2019s (bark beetle tree kill) in your face \u2026 but the reality is the understory regeneration,\u201d Remke said.<\/p>\n Over on Missionary Ridge, north of Durango, a 2002 wildfire ripped through more than 70,000 acres. But 18 years later, trees are spreading back on the landscape, both through natural means and regeneration projects.<\/p>\n \u201cForests operate on such long time scales,\u201d Remke said. \u201cGive it some time. These landscapes are resilient.\u201d<\/p>\n One other bright spot, Remke said, are all the new partnerships and working groups that are coming together to think of ways to respond to issues like change or areas where wildfire poses a high risk to homes.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re probably going to come up with innovative solutions to these new challenges,\u201d he said. \u201cI have a lot of optimism.\u201d<\/p>\n