Associated Press

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — Conservationists have challenged a U.S. Forest Service plan to control the spread of spruce beetles, claiming it would be harmful to the ecosystem.

"We can't get rid of this problem. Like it or not, beetles have bred to incredible population numbers, and there is nothing humans can do that would do less damage," Rocky Smith, spokesman for Colorado Wild, said Thursday. The nonprofit group tracks the beetle epidemic.

Under a plan approved in April, crews will spray pesticides in the Steamboat ski area and around campgrounds and other scenic corridors. They will also thin 5,750 acres of spruce trees and continue burning and peeling infested trees.

Area conservationists object to thinning and burning the trees, claiming dead trees destroyed by the insects still hold value in an ecosystem. They appealed to the Forest Service to change the plan.

"Dead trees hold soil and provide homes for animals," Smith said. "When they fall, they go back to the earth. Logged trees obviously don't do that."

Smith said some of the logging would be done in roadless areas.

Forest Service spokesman Jon Silvius declined to comment on the appeal. He said the process will take about 45 days.

Warm, dry weather in recent years has allowed the beetles to double the pace at which they normally multiply.

The beetles are also thriving thanks to a plentiful food supply left from a freak wind storm in 1997 that toppled 4 million trees on 13,000 acres in the forest in north-central Colorado.

Forest officials said the spruce beetles seek the fallen trees to feed on the layer under the bark, while the dying trees' natural defenses diminish. With the blowdown, the beetles' habitat increased dramatically.

May 31, 2002

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