Insects and disease continue to assault forests across Colorado The biggest growing threat is a beetle that's attacking high altitude trees. In the Roaring Fork Valley, the danger for private landowners comes from an insect that's been ravaging the state for much longer. It attacks lodgepole pines. That’s according to a new report by the Colorado Forest Service. To learn more, Aspen Public Radio's Elise Thatcher spoke with Colorado Forest Service Ranger Kelly Rogers.
Rogers says for landowners in the Upper Roaring Fork Valley, the best way to protect against devastating insects is by thinning lodgepole pine trees… even if it’s against their instincts: “When you acquire property you tend to take kind of a mental picture of what it looks like, and the expectation tends to be that it’s going to stay like that forever. When in fact our forests are very dynamic.” The mountain pine beetle has chewed its way through much of the state’s other lodgepole pine trees.