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Greenies Fight to Keep Beetle-Ravaged Trees

Environmentalists, bureaucracy slow Forest Service efforts

By Sam Biddle,  Newser Staff

Posted Jan 9, 2009 6:31 PM CST

(Newser) – A massive swath of trees from Colorado to British Columbia is being ravaged by beetles that burrow beneath bark to lay eggs. But the real ecological battle is being fought not over how to protect the trees, but how to treat them once they’re dead. The Christian Science Monitor examines the debate among conservationists, lumber interests, and federal bureaucracy.

“There’s an overabundance of [dead] material out there that could be removed and done in a very benign way,” says one park ranger who supports selling the trees for lumber. But such extraction is being held up by environmental groups who contend the dead trees play a vital role in the forest ecosystem, providing habitats for a multitude of animals.

The bough of a pine tree destroyed by pine beetles is shown amid the fall colors of trees near Keystone, Colo., on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2008.
The bough of a pine tree destroyed by pine beetles is shown amid the fall colors of trees near Keystone, Colo., on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2008.   (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
A forest of highly flammable pines that were killed by bark beetles stand between the Old Fire and the fresh snowline (background) on November 1, 2003 north of the community of Green Valley Lake, east of Lake Arrowhead, California.
A forest of highly flammable pines that were killed by bark beetles stand between the Old Fire and the fresh snowline (background) on November 1, 2003 north of the community of Green Valley Lake, east...   (Getty Images)
Factions are butting heads over the fate of trees killed by a beetle infestation stretching between Colorado and British Columbia.
Factions are butting heads over the fate of trees killed by a beetle infestation stretching between Colorado and British Columbia.   (Getty Images)
Donna Massie holds the preserved remains of an Asian Longhorned Beetle, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008, that she and her husband found this past summer in their Worcester, Mass., backyard.
Donna Massie holds the preserved remains of an Asian Longhorned Beetle, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008, that she and her husband found this past summer in their Worcester, Mass., backyard.   (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
Trees with leaves in the colors of fall stand near the snags of pine trees destroyed by pine beetles near the Keystone Ski Resort near Keystone, Colo., on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2008.
Trees with leaves in the colors of fall stand near the snags of pine trees destroyed by pine beetles near the Keystone Ski Resort near Keystone, Colo., on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2008.   (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Factions are butting heads over the fate of trees killed by a beetle infestation stretching between Colorado and British Columbia.
Factions are butting heads over the fate of trees killed by a beetle infestation stretching between Colorado and British Columbia.   (Getty Images)
Factions are butting heads over the fate of trees killed by a beetle infestation stretching between Colorado and British Columbia.
Factions are butting heads over the fate of trees killed by a beetle infestation stretching between Colorado and British Columbia.   (Getty Images)
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COMMENTS
Showing 2 of 2 comments
riffran
Jan 17, 2009 1:24 AM CST
Just to be fair.....there are some consrvationist, and ecologist, who are brilliant and truly have a gift or a grand purpose we all should try to emulate.......BUT....then again there are some out there that are truly fricken warped in the head, and lose all common sense....case in point, in California, there was a case of a guy making a fire break around his house, getting ready to deal with an approaching fire. His house made it just fine, all others burnt. He gets sued and fined, for damaging the natural habitat , of some obscure packrat, ......the brush he bulldozed to save his home...WTF?, now the fact that the fire would have burnt it to cinders had no bearing on the fact that HE had the nerve to disturb the rats homes...those types are what I think of when I hear :"enviro-nazi's, greenies, eco terrorist..ect.." ...Maybe thats what the story is about.....or maybe not.
kokuaguy
Jan 9, 2009 7:38 PM CST
Again, where do the NEWSER editors get off maligning & slandering (tagging as GREENIES) conservationists and ecologists who differ with the lumber industry and federal bureaucrats? I disagree with the regulators and bankers about the federal bailout -- so am I a "LOONIE?"

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