Warming climate unleashing waves of pine beetles in Colorado

Global warming has been accelerating since humans began setting fires to clear habitat, as a weapon or just for amusement. Evidence that we humans have eaten or burned ourselves out of habitats creating catastrophes behind us is strewn throughout the North American continent. 

The 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire was Colorado's costliest at nearly half a billion dollars until the Black Forest Fire the next year surpassed that. In October, 2020 the East Troublesome Fire incinerated nearly 200,000 acres of mixed timber and grass becoming the second largest wildfire ever recorded in Colorado. It was believed early that downed power lines caused the Marshall Fire in Boulder County, today the state's most destructive blaze, with claims for damage north of two billion dollars. That firestorm forced the evacuation of tens of thousands and evaporated over a thousand homes. 

Today, extracting oil and gas from public lands releases about 20 percent of energy-related US greenhouse gas emissions.

William R. Cotton is Professor Emeritus of Meteorology at Colorado State University. He says cloud seeding can produce minimal results in winter and the practice during summertime is probably fruitless but now there are eight state-permitted cloud seeding generators across Colorado.

The Aspen Acres Fire is a human-caused wildfire in southern Colorado that has burned 102,007 acres and some 850 structures have been damaged or destroyed, including 319 confirmed homes. Investigators of the seventh largest fire in Colorado history identified two distinct ignition sites directly under San Isabel power lines near Highway 165 leading to allegations of negligence and trespassing. 

Ponderosa pine contains a much higher level of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) than many other cone-bearing trees and tends to be more explosive in wildfire conditions especially when under drought stress. Beetle-affected trees are pockmarked with ‘pitchouts’ that burst into flames during wildfires and torch more readily.

Across the country, climate change is ravaging ecosystems, bringing more robust storms, rising sea levels, record-setting conflagrations and fatal heat waves. In Colorado, the staggering die-off of the majestic pines is difficult to stomach. [Capital & Main]

In 2018 after the Trump Organization gutted the National Environmental Policy Act then was thrown from the White House Hulett, Wyoming-based Neiman Enterprises closed their Hill City, South Dakota sawmill and is threatening to shutter another in Spearditch. Neiman purchased Colorado's Montrose Forest Products in 2012 but will likely cease operations there, too.