Latest Pinus Stories

By Carol O'Meara Stand in their presence and it seems they anchor the world, their branches heavy in green yet light with air. Coddling is not for them; they prefer independence, and shrug off the care their deciduous companions demand. From spruces to ponderosas, firs to bristlecones, conifers form the backdrop of our gardens, and Colorado loves them. Bring them into your landscape and give them the tough spots - they'll be happy with the challenge. "The beauty of conifers is that there...

Most of Colorado's lodgepole pine trees stand to be dead within the next 5 years.  In 1996, a bark beetle infestation was detected, and last year it spread over 500,000 acres more than previous years. Federal forestry officials say that this brings the total count of affected acres to 1.5 million. This infestation mainly affects five northern counties which straddle the Continental Divide, and has recently spread to part of southern Wyoming and the Front Range. Those effected counties are...

By SHANNON MONTGOMERY EDMONTON (CP) - Alberta wants forestry companies to step up the cutting of pine trees to help deal with a massive outbreak of destructive mountain pine beetles. Millions of the tiny insects have made their first major advance into Alberta's northern forest, settling in for the winter in up to 1.5 million trees - up from only 19,000 trees last year. The infestation has the government and industry scrambling to try and contain a scourge that has already ruined huge...

GRANGEVILLE, Idaho -- Northwest loggers are worried British Columbia may be forced to harvest as much as 21 million acres of forests to stop the mountain pine beetle, flooding the market and driving down timber prices.The infected forests in British Columbia make up an area roughly 40 percent the size of Idaho. To combat the beetles, the province is increasing allowable timber cuts 78 percent; big trouble for mills throughout the Northwest."They're going to bury us in the sand,"...

Biologists studying a lethal blight of lodgepole pines in northwestern British Columbia present strong evidence in the September issue of BioScience that climate change is to blame for the outbreak. The blight, caused by the fungus Dothistroma septosporum, causes trees to lose their needles and, in the case of the British Columbia outbreak, eventually die. D. septosporum has long been recognized as a pathogen of pines, but although it is considered a serious disease of exotic plantations in...

VAIL, Colo. -- The mountain views along Red Stone Road suggest early autumn, with splashes of red, orange and rusty brown dotting the green hillsides above the homes and condominiums of this Colorado resort town. But this is summer and the colors represent dead pine needles on hundreds of pine trees that have been killed by beetles.The tree mortality rate around Vail is striking, but it's even worse in other parts of the West. According to U.S. Forest Service figures compiled for The...