Bark beetle epidemics in Colorado

About 20 percent of the land has been treated.
A strong wood-products industry is key to getting rid of thousands of dead, bark beetle-infested trees that threaten to tip onto roads, power lines and campsites or harm watersheds around the Western United States, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell said Monday to Associated Press.

Beetles that dig under the bark of trees have killed about 21.5 million acres in the interior West, or more than 33,000 square miles, Tidwell said at a bark beetle summit hosted by Colorado Governor Bill Ritter. "We have a true crisis on our hands," Ritter concluded.

Link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101116/ap_on_re_us/us_bark_beetle_summit [8]