Colorado’s forests are still under attack from insects and disease, even though the dreaded mountain pine beetle epidemic has largely run its course in north-central Colorado, the Colorado State Forest Service said today.
“From dying walnut trees in cities along the Front Range to spruce beetles attacking high-elevation forests in southwest Colorado, we continue to have concerns about forests throughout the state,” said Jeff Jahnke, state forester and director of the Colorado State Forest Service.
Released today at the annual Joint Ag and Natural Resources Committee Hearing at the State Capitol, the “2010 Report on the Health of Colorado Forests,” offered a comprehensive overview of insect and disease problems in the state.
The report documents the status of long-established forest pests, such as spruce beetle, as well as emerging threats, such as thousand cankers disease in black walnut trees.
Thousand cankers disease was a huge danger lurking in Colorado’s urban forests in 2010, killing walnut trees in 16 counties, mostly along the Front Range and eastern Colorado.
Less visible and farther from population centers, spruce beetle infestations hit a total of 208,000 high-elevation acres of spruce forest in 2010 – almost twice the area affected in 2009. The outbreak already has impacted most of the mature spruce forests in the upper Rio Grande Basin in southwest Colorado.
The forest health report also shows that attacks on lower-elevation ponderosa pine by mountain pine beetles on the northern Front Range has intensified, with a tenfold increase in affected acreage.
The heaviest mountain pine beetle activity occurred in a swath running through Larimer, Boulder, Clear Creek and Gilpin counties. The beetles have impacted approximately 3.2 million cumulative acres in Colorado since 1996, mostly in lodgepole pine forests.
The forest health report — along with the “Colorado Statewide Forest Resource Assessment” and “Colorado Statewide Forest Resource Strategy” — will help guide forest management decisions and programs for the next several years, officials said.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
