SUMMIT COUNTY - All during the summer, one couldn't help but notice the growing sea of red beetle-killed trees transforming Summit County's landscape. Lodgepole pine, the dominant species of conifer in Colorado's mountain communities, is under deadly attack by the mountain pine beetle.

To address Summit County's altering landscape and consider prospects for the forest in our future, Our Future Summit is hosting an open forum from 7 to 9 p.m. today at the Summit County Community and Senior Center near Frisco.

Helping frame the conversation will be a panel of professionals that includes Richard Stem, the U.S. Forest Service's deputy regional forester out of Lakewood; Sloan Shoemaker, executive director of the Carbondale-based Wilderness Workshop; Brad Piehl, an environmental consultant and Breckenridge resident who has been working on restoration projects in the Hayman area, which was the site of a catastrophic wildfire in 2002; and Doug Young, senior policy advisor to Congressman Mark Udall, who will describe prospects for a meaningful federal response to challenges facing mountain communities here and throughout the West.

The forum format will allow for ample time for a question and answer period as well as for comments from the audience in response to issues raised by the panelists.