WHISTLER, B.C. — Clothes must stay on in Whistler during the Olympics. That's the mandate from the municipal council, but not all the locals are impressed.

“It's interesting to note that while Whistler's mayor and council are attempting to ban stripping, they have taken no action to outlaw escort services or erotic massage providers, many of which provide sexual services at a price,” writes Dan Pitcairn, president of a “naturists” group from the Vancouver area. Naturists believe clothing should be optional.

G.D. Maxwell, a columnist for Pique Newsmagazine, explains that with the escorts ramping up to supply what they expect to be heightened demand during the Olympic games, one of the local clubs decided to join the flesh trade. That's what caused the verdict from the municipal council.

“While I'm not a fan of peeler bars, I'd personally rather see strippers than any member of the International Olympic Committee plying their trade on the mean streets of Whistler,” he adds. “Strippers sell an honest — silicon notwithstanding — product to willing buyers.”

Trees continue to fall in wake of beetle epidemic

WINTER PARK — Oh, what a difference 20 or 30 years can make in terms of attitude. It used to be against the law in Winter Park to cut down a tree without permission. But spread of bark beetles in the epidemic that began in Colorado during 1996 has changed attitudes — and the law.

Nowadays, people are encouraged to cut down the dying and dead lodgepole pine trees amid which the town was created. The Sky-Hi Daily News reports that town officials had identified more than 100,000 trees inside the town limits until 2008, when they simply quit counting.

Next up to go down are trees along the Union Pacific Railroad right-of way, which bisects the town. “There is a ribbon of red that runs right through the center of it,” said Drew Nelson, the town manager.

Forest Service officials have concluded that the bark beetles have largely run out of lodgepole pine trees to invade on the Western Slope of Colorado, reports The Denver Post. Of course, that same story could have been written two years ago for some valleys of the Western Slope, while it's a premature story for other parts, such as near Aspen.

But the beetle epidemic has hardly run its course. The larger story in the next few years will likely be rapid spread of beetles in the sprawling lodgepole and ponderosa pine forests east of the Continental Divide. The U.S. Forest Service last week announced $30 million in funding for efforts to deal with the beetle epidemic in Colorado.

Canadian parks inventory population of black bears

BANFF, Alberta — A new report from Parks Canada shows that an average of 23 black bears have been killed annually during the last two decades in Banff, Jasper, Revelstoke and other national parks of the Canada Rockies.

No conclusions can be drawn from that statistic, park officials tell the Rocky Mountain Outlook, although it does establish a baseline for evaluating future trends.

During that span, Jasper has had the largest mortality, 209 deaths, compared with 90 in Banff, and 56 in Glacier. Jasper led probably because of its larger size and bear habitat. However, bear deaths have declined in part due to reduced speed limits on highways and better handling of garbage.

Out-of-bound miscues finally result in tragedy

REVELSTOKE, B.C. — Authorities had been worried enough about out-of-bounds ski and snowboard excursions at Revelstoke Mountain Resort that Cpl. Ross Wiebe, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mountain Police, in mid-January had told a local newspaper that it was just a matter of time before an outcome would be tragic.

The very next day, two young men and the father of one of them skied out of bounds, ending up in a steep, icy chute. They took off their skis and tried to climb out, but fell and slid approximately 100 meters and over a cliff. Only one of the three survived the fall, and he was helicoptered out just before dark.

Gay hate group vows to disrupt event in T'ride

TELLURIDE — Members of the Westborn Baptist Church, an independent Baptist church known for hatred of bisexuals and homosexuals, plan a protest at Telluride during the Telluride Gay Ski week in February.

The Telluride Watch reports it has received a copy of an announcement from the church, which is based in Kansas, of plans to “picket Judy Shepard during the fag ski trip crap…”

She is the mother of Matthew Shepard, the openly gay 21-year-old who was murdered in 1998 outside of Laramie, Wyo. She now heads the Matthew Shepard Foundation, which supports diversity and tolerance in youth organizations. Church members picketed the funeral of Matthew Shepard and also the trial of his murderers. They carried signs that said such things as “Matt Shepard rots in Hell, “and “God Hates Fags.”