State and federal forestry experts emphasized the weakening of trees due to drought conditions while presenting their latest observations made during an aerial survey of Colorado and Wyoming forests last year.
bark beetles, disease and other pests“Years of persistent drought, an indicator of a warming climate, remains a key driver for outbreaks of bark beetles in our forests,” said state forester McCombs.Via the survey, forestry experts concluded the spruce beetle is now Colorado’s deadliest forest pest for the 10th consecutive year. The spruce beetle is blamed for more tree mortality than any other pest.
While spruce beetle activity across the state generally appears to be declining, its impact was described as “widespread,” per the report. New areas showing expanded activity included those on either side of the Continental Divide in Rocky Mountain National Park. Ground observation, in fact, found “extensive mortality in the Endo Valley” of the park, the report stated.
The largest areas of spruce beetle activity, however, are in established infestation zones in southern Colorado. Specifically, the spruce beetle population in the Sawatch Range continued to move north into new areas around Cottonwood and Cumberland passes. New areas of spruce beetle activity were seen around Silverton and Red Mountain Pass. In the Wet Mountains, spruce beetle populations are declining due to depletion of suitable host trees.
“Over several years, defoliation from western spruce budworm may weaken a tree to the point where the Douglas-fir beetle and other bark beetles can easily overcome the tree and kill it,” the report stated.Wyoming was not spared the budworm, as signs of defoliation continued to be seen across almost all Douglas-fir stands on the Shoshone, Bighorn , and Medicine Bow National Forests.
Many of Wyoming’s areas with the heaviest defoliation are experiencing combined attacks on trees by budworm and beetles.Another native bark beetle, the Douglas-fir beetle, continues to cause significant tree mortality in the state’s central and southern mixed-conifer forests. Douglas, Gunnison, Jefferson, Eagle, Pitkin and Custer counties have severely affected Douglas-fir stands and “this beetle has depleted many of the largest trees in these areas over the past decade,” the report stated.
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