{"id":74672,"date":"2020-01-31T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/beetle-infestation-slows-in-southwest-colorado-but-only-for-lack-of-trees\/"},"modified":"2020-02-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-01T00:00:00","slug":"beetle-infestation-slows-in-southwest-colorado-but-only-for-lack-of-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/beetle-infestation-slows-in-southwest-colorado-but-only-for-lack-of-trees\/","title":{"rendered":"Beetle infestation slows in Southwest Colorado, but only for lack of trees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A view of the Rio Grand National Forest during a recent survey of beetle kill across Colorado. The outbreak is slowing down, but only because most trees have been killed.<\/span>Courtesy of Colorado State Forest Service<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

After more than two decades, beetle kill across Southwest Colorado is slowing down, but that\u2019s only because most trees at risk have fallen prey to the massive outbreak, a recent survey shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big spruce tree epidemic is definitely continuing,\u201d said Bob Cain, regional entomologist for the U.S. Forest Service. \u201cBut it\u2019s slowing down because it\u2019s running out of suitable trees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every year, the Forest Service, in partnership with the Colorado State Forest Service, conducts an aerial survey of most of Colorado\u2019s estimated 24.4 million acres of forested lands, tracking areas where beetle kill has spread<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Southwest Colorado, the spruce beetle epidemic started on Wolf Creek Pass in the late 1990s. Though beetles are native to the land, their toll was exacerbated as drought, warm winters and dense forests aided their rapid spread.<\/p>\n

\"Shades
Shades of gray indicate areas already hit by the spruce beetle outbreak, while areas of red and orange are active. Shades of green are areas at risk.<\/span>Courtesy of U.S. Forest Service<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Over the past two decades, the spruce beetle has torn through more than 884,000 acres \u2013 about 25% \u2013 of the Rio Grande and San Juan national forests, which, combined, total about 3.6 million acres, though not all that land is spruce forest.<\/p>\n

In 2019, flights over the San Juan Mountains found 16,000 acres of active infestation, and of that amount, about 5,000 acres were newly discovered areas of beetle spread.<\/p>\n

Some of the most intensely hit areas, Cain said, were near Vallecito Lake and around Silverton.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of it is still in wilderness areas, which is where a lot of spruce is at,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Whereas beetle kill in past years saw astonishing advancements over the landscape, the number of acres actively affected has declined for five consecutive years. But even so, the survey noted beetles continue to expand in remaining spots of unaffected spruce trees.<\/p>\n

\"The
The spruce beetle has left a path of destruction in its wake since the outbreak started near Wolf Creek Pass in the late 1990s. Since then, the outbreak has worked its way west, consuming most trees in the wilderness.<\/span>Courtesy of U.S. Forest Service<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cSpruce beetle remains the No. 1 forest pest across the state,\u201d said Ryan Cox, a forester with the Colorado State Forest Service. \u201cThere may be less acres, but it\u2019s still on the move.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the roundheaded beetle is wreaking havoc outside Dolores.<\/p>\n

Forest researchers first noted roundheaded beetles killing ponderosa pines in an area north of Dolores, known as the Glade, as early as 2011. Throughout the early 2010s, the acreage affected doubled year over year.<\/p>\n

Then, the beetles\u2019 impact shot up. An estimated 11,000 acres were affected in 2017. That number increased to 27,000 acres in 2018.<\/p>\n

The 2019 survey determined 22,000 acres affected.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, it\u2019s due to a lot of factors \u2013 climate, stress from drought,\u201d Cox said. \u201cAnd once we\u2019re at these outbreak levels, they tend to just move through their course.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The roundheaded pine beetle has ravaged ponderosa pines near Dolores, as drought and other climate factors have exacerbated the outbreak.<\/span>Courtesy of Colorado State Forest Service<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The roundheaded beetle ranges from Guatemala to the Rockies, so the insect is native to this region. But in New Mexico, for instance, the beetle builds up over a year or two and then experiences a population die-off.<\/p>\n

Researchers believe the drought in Southwest Colorado is paving the way for these beetles to thrive. For example, 2018 was the warmest year on record dating back 124 years, and the second driest year dating back to 1895.<\/p>\n

\"Thinning
Thinning projects have begun to help temper the effects of the roundheaded beetle outbreak outside Dolores.<\/span>Courtesy of U.S. Forest Service<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The U.S. Forest Service and the Colorado State Forest Service are putting together a broad-scale tree-thinning project to help save trees where it\u2019s possible and try to reduce wildfire danger in the areas around Dolores.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut as far as catching up with an outbreak, it\u2019s really difficult,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2019 survey shows 5,000 newly damaged acres in San Juan Mountains<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1030,738,13,28,445,199,549],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-74672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-environment","tag-environmental-issue","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter-lead","tag-san-juan-national-forest","tag-united-states-forest-service"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74672"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=74672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}