You don’t have to drive very far into the mountains to see the damage the pine beetle already has wrought in Colorado. More than 1.5 million acres of pine trees have been killed, creating a drag on the Rocky Mountain High experience and a frightful host of other problems.
So it was good to see last week that the state and the U.S. Forest Service are talking about greatly increasing funding to mitigate the damage.
Foresters tell us these pesky beetles will kill most of Colorado’s mature lodgepole pines within the next two to four years. The dead trees increase fire hazards and cause more erosion, sending hillsides of dirt into watersheds and clogging our natural water supply.
Gov. Bill Ritter has proposed spending $5.5 million next year on several programs. The Forest Service says it will spend $26 million next year on the regional problem, with much of that going to Colorado’s victimized forests.
The programs would thin trees near communities and reservoirs, help mountain towns plan for wildfire mitigation and allow for long-term restoration projects in or near watersheds, writes Post reporter John Angled. Also proposed is a loan fund for companies that would use the piles of dead trees to make biofuel and home heating pellets or electricity.
The new state money would greatly outpace the $1 million now funding such programs.
State and federal officials said upon announcing the plans that working together and avoiding turf battles would be an important part of the mitigation, and we’re heartened to hear those words. Let’s hope such wise counsel translates into reality.
The state money would come from an omnibus bill called the Healthy Forests/Vibrant Communities Act and would be presented to the legislature next year. The legislature’s interim wildfire committee also is pursuing a plan to establish a grant program for communities near damaged forests. The program would allow the areas to better target the most risky areas for wildfires on private, state or federal land.
Obviously, the real problems that the dead and dying trees create demand attention, and for that reason alone we applaud the effort to direct extra resources to the forests.
But we’re especially interested in the attempt to also look to the acres of dead pine as a source, even if only a temporary one, to be cured into biofuels.
It’s high time to get away from corn as the sole source for ethanol, and if the glut of dead trees could help foster development of a commercially viable cellulosic ethanol to be blended with gasoline, then maybe those pesky beetles will have an upside.
As it is, the dead forests are a sad sight in a state that is proud of its natural beauty. We hope the legislature agrees with Ritter’s approach and makes the money available.
