FOXPARK, Wyo.—The U.S. Forest Service says beetle-killed trees have been cut down from alongside more than 420 miles of roads and trails in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming this year.
Contractors also have removed dead trees from more than 20 square miles of forest near homes and buildings.
The work is being done with $35 million that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack allocated to the Forest Service in the two states last year. Senators from Wyoming and Colorado have asked Vilsack to spend another $49 million in the year ahead.
Forest officials say operations will continue this winter until there’s too much snow on the ground for crews to do their work.
Bark beetles have killed 5,500 square miles of forest in the two states.
