Where Are All the Trees?

The Rocky Mountains are beautiful with one small exception…OUR TREES ARE DYING. I was told that Colorado was one of the most majestic places in the world, and I when I arrived here last November I believed it. The winter was gorgeous and the snow conditions were the best I have ever seen, but Spring and Summer came around and half of our trees are dead or dying. We have an infestation of beetles that are destroying our Lodgepole Pines.

The diminished beauty is a minor inconvenience in relation to the potential hazard that the dead trees possess; if they caught fire, then we could have one of the worst fires in the history of our country. I am not even joking. These fires could spread across 5 different states and destroy millions of acres of land and damage many homes and communities…oh yeah, and people would surely die. The ironic thing is that the only way for the Lodgepole to disperse its seeds is for a fire to cause the cones to break open. The irony of nature!

The DNR and the people of Colorado are trying to avoid disaster at all costs. Many people have had to cut down dead trees near their property. There has been some controlled burning closer to residential areas, and we, meaning my employer and my co-workers, generally ask our guests for donations to the National Forest Association to help fund our forests projects in Colorado.

What the people of Colorado and the DNR are doing now may be a little too late. I have heard people saying that it will be taken care of or that it really isn’t that big of a deal and that other trees will take the place missing pines. They may be right, but the fact is that when I walk outside I see lots of dead and dying trees and I think to myself “How did they let it get this far?” I have been here less than a year and I may have said something several years ago if I had known about it, but it is too late. I have guests come to me upon arrival and they are amazed at how brown Colorado is. Welcome to Colorado! :-)

I am sure the beetles will eventually go away, and that things will start to look normal once again, but I moved here for two reasons. One reason was for a change of pace and a new job, and the other reason was I heard that Colorado was one of the most heavenly places on Earth. I still feel Colorado is beautiful, but honestly it is no Heaven. ;-)