Lawmakers warned Tuesday that it’s only a question of time before a major wildfire strikes Colorado’s beetle-ravaged trees on the Western Slope and that the state isn’t prepared.
State forestry officials said less than half the communities in the state are prepared for a major wildfire after pine beetles destroyed 1.5 million acres of lodgepole pine. They said spruce beetles and other insect infestations have left hundreds of thousands of residents at risk for losing their lives and homes.
“You see mile after mile after mile of dead and dying trees,” Rep. Christine Scanlan, D-Dillon, told Hans Kallam, director of the state’s Division of Emergency Management. “Trying to do wildfire mitigation has tapped all the local and county resources. We have done what we can at the state level, but they frankly don’t have many more dollars to pull from.”
She said the federal government has provided only $12 million for mitigation.
