Current work in wildlife, rivers, public lands, and climate

Contrary to the stated conclusion that the project will help reduce spruce beetles, careful scrutiny of the proposed prescriptions suggests that the project may actually increase spruce beetle populations.
Contact: WildEarth Guardians

The Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-148) used forest insect outbreaks as a justification for increasing logging and limiting environmental protections. Currently, the Rio Grande National Forest is promoting a massive logging project, 29 million board feet or over 7,000 log trucks, to control spruce beetles. The logging project will have significant impacts on water quality and soils in the upper Rio Grande watershed that is so critical to the lives and well-being of the San Luis Valley. In September, 2005 a diverse group of citizens and conservationists field an administrative appeal of the logging project with the Lakewood office of the Forest Service.

Contrary to the stated conclusion that the project will help reduce spruce beetles, careful scrutiny of the proposed prescriptions suggests that the project may actually increase spruce beetle populations. For instance, 3,575-7,150 trap trees are proposed for the thinning units. FEIS at 2- 5. Unless every single one of these trap trees is removed or treated in place to kill beetles before they complete a breeding cycle, the beetle population would be increased. It is hard to imagine marking this many trees, and then finding and treating all of them the following year. Also, cutting trees for beetle traps may draw in more beetles than can fill the trees. The beetles then will attack live trees. This possible “spillover” effect has been noted in other Forest Service documents concerning beetle treatments.

Read the Appeal (PDF)