Congressional staffers hear beetle pleas

SUMMIT COUNTY — If rhetoric could kill pine beetles, the pesky little bugs would be all but vanquished after Wednesday’s bus tour in the High Country.

Representatives from most of Colorado’s congressional delegation mostly listened as local officials and top U.S. Forest Service brass expounded on their plans to deal with insect infestation that has swept through local forests like an entomological firestorm.

At each stop, including Keystone Resort, the county landfill and the Frisco Peninsula, the focus was on getting staff members of Colorado’s elected officials to sit up and pay attention to the problem.

“I hope the congressional delegation’s staff get an idea of what’s at stake here,” said Rocky Mountain Regional Forester Rick Cables, speaking at an overlook where the red tide of trees sweeping the hillsides around Keystone was apparent in every direction.

Cables and White River National Forest Supervisor Maribeth Gustafson both emphasized the economic and social values associated with healthy forests.

“This is the most visited national forest in the U.S.,” Gustafson said. “It’s imperative that we have beautiful scenery … that’s why people come here.”

To put the cost of treatments into perspective, Cables said the value of green healthy trees needs to be considered in the context of their recreational setting.

“How much is a tree worth on a golf course, or in a tree island at a ski area, where it’s needed to shelter snow?” he said. “The Forest Service can’t fix the problem by itself,” he continued, asking for continued collaboration among the many stakeholders involved.

County Commissioner Bill Wallace used a Hurricane Katrina analogy to highlight the severity of the crisis.

“There were things that could have been done to protect property before the storm hit,” Wallace said. “We need to do those things here to protect property and watersheds when that fire does hit,” he said, anticipating a catastrophic wildfire that is a nearly inevitable component of lodgepole pine forest ecology.

Several Forest Service researchers also discussed their current work on the mountain pine beetle epidemic, especially as it pertains to potential impacts to runoff amounts and water quality, and trying to determine where the beetle might move next. Hampered by tight budgets and still in the early stages of their work, the scientists said it’s still to early to draw firm conclusions.

Work in an experimental forest near Fraser could also help the agency determine how effective various types of treatments (clearcuts, thinning) are in slowing the spread of the voracious bugs.

Sandy Briggs, organizer of the local pine beetle task force, said still more public education is needed.

“I don’t think it’s something 80 percent of the people here understand — that most of our lodgepole pines are going to be dead within a few years. The landscape is going to be totally changed,” Briggs said.

While everybody on the tour was talking the talk, it’s not clear that the Forest Service will come up with the cash to walk the walk. In fact, the preliminary 2007 budget for the agency shows the Rocky Mountain region taking some significant fiscal hits even while other forests, especially on the West Coast, would see appropriations boosted.

“It’s unconscionable to us,” said Gary Severson, director of the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments, advocating for better federal funding for the areas hardest hit by the pine beetles. As it stands now, the Rocky Mountain region would see a 4 percent drop in timber program funding, a 15 percent decline for forest range, vegetation and watershed management, and a 12 percent drop in the wildlife category. A small increase in the funds allocated to wildfire mitigation are not enough to offset those proposed cuts, Severson said.

But despite the grim fiscal picture, Cables said the agency and its partners must keep plugging away.

“We have a window of public support,” he said, explaining that as recently as 10 years ago, cutting trees just seemed politically incorrect.

“Now, the public is clamoring for us to do something,” he said. “We need to show people that it’s OK to remove some trees, that there will be new growth. We’ve got to put some bold plan on the table that’s bigger than we thought before,” he concluded.

Bob Berwyn can be reached at (970) 331-5996, or at bberwyn@summitdaily.com.