Colorado’s popular recreation areas were hit especially hard by the epidemic. Out of about 4.1 million acres of pine forests ...

It’s native to western pine forests, especially lodgepole and ponderosa forests, where it normally lives in relatively small numbers, killing a tree or two here and there. It’s been normal too ...

The bugs also found and damaged lodgepole pine forests in Gunnison County that escaped earlier infestations. West said it’s clear the beetles thrive amid drier, warmer weather. Besides leaving ...

The beetles can kill many species of pines, but the current outbreak is mainly in lodgepole pine. Mitton and Ferrenberg’s primary ... When adult beetles emerge from a tree in late spring, they search ...