STEAMBOAT SPRINGS —Routt National Forest lost about 615,000 acres of trees to the bark beetle epidemic. Medicine Bow National Forest had about 650,000 acres of dead trees, according to U.S. Forest Service spokesman Larry Sandoval.
Now, the epidemic has leveled off, and officials are stepping in to take stock of the situation.
A group of Forest Service officers and university researchers gathered Tuesday night at Bud Werner Memorial Library to share what’s been learned in the wake of the epidemic and how the forests are moving forward.
University of Wyoming professors Brent Ewers and Dan Tinker gave presentations about the research that’s gone on in beetle-killed areas, and Sandoval spoke about what his office has been doing to manage Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest.
Ewers presented data about not only the cycle that goes on in forests from when the infection starts to when the trees die but also the effects on soil and watersheds.
The extra nitrogen that passes into the soil from dropped needles and litter is absorbed by the healthy trees that are left standing, according to Ewers. Bark beetles also prefer larger trees, he said, leaving smaller trees of the same age less likely to be infected with the blue stain fungi they carry. The growth rate of these smaller trees can increase as nitrogen is more plentiful and they aren’t crowded out by larger trees.
