Over the past four years, and with very few resources, a great coalition of citizens, local and state officials, and federal leaders has done tremendous work fighting threats caused by the bark beetle epidemic in Colorado and throughout the west.
To combat the threat, this past legislative session I worked with a bipartisan group of legislators to author and pass more than half a dozen healthy forest health bills. The new legislation improves wildlife preparedness plans; expands local communities’ capacity to fight fires; creates a grant program for fire mitigation in the most threatened areas; and provides incentives to businesses that assist in tree removal and forest restoration. In conjunction with our successful legislative session, a number of local governments have stepped up their efforts.
To demonstrate Colorado’s successes more broadly, Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, and I traveled to Washington D.C. with other local officials to stress the severity of the crisis in testimony to Congress. It was Sen. Gibbs who was initially responsible for bringing the issue to the Statehouse, and I am very grateful for his efforts. Thanks to his leadership, it seems that, with the help of our Congressional delegation, Washington is finally beginning to see the urgency of the situation. Additional federal support to cope with the crisis is hopefully now on its way.
The bark beetle infestation continues to pose very real threats to our national economy and our national security. Over 2.5 million acres have now been affected in the Inter-Mountain West, and we have reached the point where the threat to the safety of millions of people in Colorado and beyond is at a level of crisis. The scope of the potential catastrophe warrants an emergency response. State and local action alone is not enough – federal support is vital.
On Nov. 13, Regional Forester Rick Cables sent an urgent letter to U.S. Forest Chief Thomas Tidwell requesting more than $40 million to continue battling the beetles with a Type 1 Incident Management Team, essentially an emergency response force. Mr. Cables has rightly called for this money, because he understands that our communities need emergency support to reduce the imminent risk of wildfire and the hazards of falling trees to our communities.
In a bipartisan show of regional support, many lawmakers, including Gov. Bill Ritter, Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet of Colorado, Sens. John Thune and Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso of Wyoming, and Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and a number of other state and local leaders have endorsed Cables’ proposal.
Washington, D.C., responded to Cables’ proposal on December 8, when Gov. Ritter and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the U.S. Forest Service has committed an additional $40 million for the Inter-Mountain West to help fight the bark beetle epidemic. As the state most heavily impacted by the beetle epidemic, it’s critical that Colorado get its fair share.
Additionally, Senator Mark Udall and Senator Jim Risch, R-Idaho, introduced critical mountain pine beetle legislation on November 18. Their bill designates a massive insect and disease infestation emergency in 12 states across the west; prioritizes those areas posing the most danger and directs those lands to be treated first; amends the renewable fuels definition to include the biomass potential from our devastated lodgepole forests; and specifically makes Colorado’s good neighbor policy permanent – all without threatening private property.
Taken together, the proposals amount to a unified approach that is strong enough to be effective while still demonstrating sensitivity toward our local communities’ needs. Recognizing that simply reallocating funding is insufficient and would leave Colorado and the region’s other forest health programs vulnerable, our leaders are showing a nuanced understanding of the epidemic and a commitment to finally addressing the scourge with adequate resources.
Money to treat beetle-killed trees ought to be spent in the most strategic areas, including in forests around homes in our growing communities and adjacent to our vital watersheds. These are the areas targeted by our statewide bark beetle coalition.
However, to this point, we’ve struggled with how to treat federal lands. That’s why the new federal legislation and federal funding are so critical. The additional funding will also help with activities such as the removal of hazard trees that threaten infrastructure, resources and individual lives.
I strongly support both Rick Cables’ request for federal funding, and Sens. Udall and Risch’s legislation, and I encourage the entire Colorado delegation to support their efforts. Now it’s up to the rest of Washington, DC, to heed Colorado and the West’s warnings.
Christine Scanlan is a State Representative, representing Eagle, Lake and Summit Counties. EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an online-only column and has not been edited.
