GRANBY — Whether the greatest environmental disaster in recorded Colorado history or simply nature’s way, this much is certain about the beetle kill epidemic that has spread to eight counties, two others in southeast Wyoming.
Colorado’s pattern of big game hunting never will be the same, at least not in the lifetimes of those who read this. Radical changes in broad forest regions with the destruction of millions of acres of lodgepole pine and other conifers will irrevocably alter the way we hunt, and where.
Whether it changes the actual numbers and dynamics of animals such as deer and elk, even moose, remains to be seen.
These were the inescapable conclusions drawn from a long, looping Saturday ride through the beetle epicenter of Grand County with the Colorado Division of Wildlife officer whose district is the most heavily impacted by an outbreak that, at last count, had ravaged 1.5 million acres, public and private.
For the past six years, a period that coincides with the peak of the plague, Kirk Oldham has patrolled the eastern part of the county, a region converted to dull, rusty brown by a small insect whose mischief seems far from finished. From a visual and practical aspect, the changes he has seen are astonishing. Oldham expects even more, some good, some bad.
On a positive note, the opening of the forest canopy in the older beetle zones where dead pine needles have dropped off has promoted an explosion of grass and forbs that nourish large herbivores.
“Elk have become much more dispersed, particularly in those areas where the trees have been dead three, four years,” Oldham said. “We’re finding them in smaller groups, not so much in big herds.”
Another benefit, Oldham observed, comes from an expanded line of sight for hunters previously thwarted by dense lodgepole thickets.
This advantage has been extended by a U.S. Forest Service commercial harvest program that removes thousands of acres of dead trees, creating open parkland that will feed and expose even greater numbers of deer and elk.
This combination of events serves to provide an abundance of warm-weather forage. Whether it will promote an overall numbers gain remains to be seen. Available winter range, steadily declining from various forms of development, always is the determining population factor.
Oldham sees a glimmer of hope that the demise of lodgepole thickets on the lowest south-facing slopes might create additional low-snow winter refuges with adequate food sources.
Over the short haul, timber removal and cleanup has proved a setback to hunters, pushing animals farther into the backcountry. Taking a cue from the opening hunt period, savvy hunters generally chose to give the heavily timbered area along the Stillwater Pass road a miss during the second season that ended Sunday.
“This has temporarily forced out a lot of the elk and hunters pick up on that,” Oldham said.
Hunters will find another, more enduring detriment to the beetle kill. Once these trees turn to tall toothpicks, usually in six or seven years, they will become subject to blowdown. This will create a forest of jackstraws, making foot travel next to impossible in many areas.
Meanwhile, the beetle beat goes on, more recently crossing the Continental Divide to Boulder, Larimer and Clear Creek counties. Pitkin County also has joined the earlier infestation in Grand, Jackson, Summit and Eagle counties.
“It keeps attacking younger and younger trees while moving into other species,” said Mary Ann Chambers, public affairs officer for the Bark Beetle Incident Management Team in Forest Service Region 2.
