FORT COLLINS, Colo.—The U.S. Forest Service is asking utilities with rights of way across northern Colorado and southern Wyoming forests to help share costs of removing trees killed by bark beetles.
The Forest Service says about 100,000 of the trees could fall every day in northern Colorado in coming years, potentially killing people or damaging property. It is asking utilities to help pay to remove beetle-killed trees that could damage power lines and water resources.
Forest Service spokesman David Sandretti says removing hazardous trees along 3,700 miles of roads and about 180,000 acres in campgrounds and near towns and neighborhoods could cost it close to $600 million. He says it would take the agency 20 years to do that at current funding levels.
———
Information from: Fort Collins Coloradoan,
