Pine Beattles

Well... I am on the light rail today. Trying to save a little gas. When I ride the train, I usually blog on my phone, but today I do not really have much to say. Or at least I cannot think of a topic. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the earphone adaptor for my phone so I cannot even listen to music.

The attached picture is from this weekend up in Winter Park. Auction Automations had an event in Tabernash and while it was not my event to work I went up with Tracy and the kids to be "on call". The charity paid for our rooms, so there was no big reason not to go.

The Winter Park valley seems to be the worst hit by the pine beattle epidemic. If you don't know, pine beattles are destroying a huge portion of Colorado's pine forests. Pine beattles lay eggs and their grubs eat pines. The pines die. It has gotten pretty bad. Most of the trees in the winter park area are dead and brown. The only thing to do is cut down the dead trees and wait for them to be replaced by aspen.

I suspect fire wood will be pretty cheap for quite some time. Although, it may be that they want to keep that wood quarentined, so I will not get benefit.

Unfortunately, Tracy's family is having a reunion up there at the end of June. Reservations had to be made almost 2 years ago. At the time we knew about the pine beattle epidemic, but I did not realize that it would ever get this bad.

And it is not just Winter Park / Frasier valley. I think I heard that eventually 90 percent of our pine forests will be wiped out. Years from now, colorado's evergreens will be replaced by Aspen. I wonder if there is an Aspen Beattle.

Of course, global warming is a big reason for triving pine beattles (isn't every negative thing in today's world at least partially caused by global warming?). The cold mountain winters are apparently no longer cold enough to control their populations. Another means to control the pine beattles is forest fire, which with so many people now living in he mountains are no longer allowed to clean up forests. Of course, forest fires also tend to kill pines.

One interesting thing to me is that it seems the whole purpose of the pine beattle is to destroy its food source. If the pine beattle population accomplishes its purpose there will be no more trees and so the pine beattles will die off.

And you would think 1 tree would be enough food for millions of these little things. But they do not seem content at all to stay put. Nope, they have to destroy thousands of trees. Greedy little bastards.

I am sure that in the whole scheme of things, the grand design of creation, Pine Beattles have an important role. I do not know what it is. It probably has something to do with keeping forest areas healthy by getting rid of old obsolete trees. Somehow the balance maintains itself if man does not screw with it, but we have somehow done something that allows Pine Beattles go out of control. This is where global warming or over controling forest fires or something comes in. I am sure this is all our fault. Probably specifically the fault of white christrian capitalist males.

I do not buy it.

I blame the tweedle beattles.