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A power boat creates waves in front of forests devastated by pine beetles Thursday on Shadow Mountain Reservoir in Grand County.
GRAND COUNTY - A trip to Grand County is like an eerie, five-year glimpse into what our forests will look like in a few years.
Taking the roads into Kremmling, you're likely to pass a dozen logging trucks filled with wood. As you pass into Grand County, you'll start seeing red forests in the distance, peeking out over the hills.
This is where Grand County should be renamed "Brown County," said Staniel Juranek, 79, who's been selling produce with his wife near Lake Granby for 15 years. The mountain pine beetle, which is expected to destroy as much as 90 percent of the lodgepole pine forests in Summit County, has definitely done its damage here.
It's easy to spot clear-cut and logged areas on the hillsides. Within three to five years of dying, a lodgepole pine is so deteriorated and dry that it can't be sold as commercial lumber - and you can see much of this useless wood left behind.
Many homes, surrounded by the skeletal remains of long-dead pine trees, look like the sole, untouched survivors of cataclysmic fires. Grand Lake resident Bob Means says that even after spraying all the trees around his house, they still had to cut several down.
Taking the roads into Kremmling, you're likely to pass a dozen logging trucks filled with wood. As you pass into Grand County, you'll start seeing red forests in the distance, peeking out over the hills.
This is where Grand County should be renamed "Brown County," said Staniel Juranek, 79, who's been selling produce with his wife near Lake Granby for 15 years. The mountain pine beetle, which is expected to destroy as much as 90 percent of the lodgepole pine forests in Summit County, has definitely done its damage here.
It's easy to spot clear-cut and logged areas on the hillsides. Within three to five years of dying, a lodgepole pine is so deteriorated and dry that it can't be sold as commercial lumber - and you can see much of this useless wood left behind.
Many homes, surrounded by the skeletal remains of long-dead pine trees, look like the sole, untouched survivors of cataclysmic fires. Grand Lake resident Bob Means says that even after spraying all the trees around his house, they still had to cut several down.
"It's just something you accept," he said. "It's nature's way."
The dominant colors are red and brown. Acre for acre, you won't see this many dead, red and brown trees in Eagle County, at least not yet.
It was in 2000 when foresters in Grand County recognized the pine-beetle outbreak as a true epidemic rather than one of the small outbreaks common in any pine forest, said Craig Magwire, head of the Sulphur Ranger District. They knew then, as they know now, that it can't be stopped.
<b>'Kind of pretty'</b>
Residents and tourists in Grand County seem overwhelmed by what's happened in the past seven years. But reluctantly, and with a bit of sadness or anger, they've gone through that classic grieving cycle and have come to accept their dead forest.
The dominant colors are red and brown. Acre for acre, you won't see this many dead, red and brown trees in Eagle County, at least not yet.
It was in 2000 when foresters in Grand County recognized the pine-beetle outbreak as a true epidemic rather than one of the small outbreaks common in any pine forest, said Craig Magwire, head of the Sulphur Ranger District. They knew then, as they know now, that it can't be stopped.
<b>'Kind of pretty'</b>
Residents and tourists in Grand County seem overwhelmed by what's happened in the past seven years. But reluctantly, and with a bit of sadness or anger, they've gone through that classic grieving cycle and have come to accept their dead forest.
When Jeff Davidson shrugs and says "What are you going to do?" while launching his boat into Shadow Mountain Reservoir Thursday, he's far from alone in that attitude. It may not be pretty in Grand County, but it's not scaring him away.
Lillie and Buddy Shapp, managers of Sulphur Ranger District campgrounds, both said they're full on the weekends just like they've always been during the summer.
People from the Denver area drive in knowing very well what the trees look like. Many of these families have been coming for years, and they're not about to stop now.
"Bring shade, we tell them," Lillie Shapp said.
The Brooks family hadn't been through Granby in about five years and was a bit shocked when they pitched their tents at the now ironically named Green Ridge campground, a spot now surrounded by red and brown trees.
Lillie and Buddy Shapp, managers of Sulphur Ranger District campgrounds, both said they're full on the weekends just like they've always been during the summer.
People from the Denver area drive in knowing very well what the trees look like. Many of these families have been coming for years, and they're not about to stop now.
"Bring shade, we tell them," Lillie Shapp said.
The Brooks family hadn't been through Granby in about five years and was a bit shocked when they pitched their tents at the now ironically named Green Ridge campground, a spot now surrounded by red and brown trees.
"It's night and day to what it used to be," Shelly Brooks said. "It's sad."
<b>Keep on playing</b>
The Brooks family illustrates that, despite how bad things look, the recreation industry hasn't slowed down yet. The pine beetle's effect on the community has been mostly emotional rather than life changing.
"You come down here to escape heat of Denver, camp by a body of water, go fishing, get out with their family, fresh air -they still have all those things," Magwire said. "There hasn't been a drop off in visitation because people still get to do the things they want to experience."
That's why there's been a strong push to clear and spray trees in recreation areas and campsites. The most the forest service can do now is shield those priceless areas from the inevitable wildfires that will clear out all the dead trees and trigger the regrowing process.
<b>Keep on playing</b>
The Brooks family illustrates that, despite how bad things look, the recreation industry hasn't slowed down yet. The pine beetle's effect on the community has been mostly emotional rather than life changing.
"You come down here to escape heat of Denver, camp by a body of water, go fishing, get out with their family, fresh air -they still have all those things," Magwire said. "There hasn't been a drop off in visitation because people still get to do the things they want to experience."
That's why there's been a strong push to clear and spray trees in recreation areas and campsites. The most the forest service can do now is shield those priceless areas from the inevitable wildfires that will clear out all the dead trees and trigger the regrowing process.
