America's Forests 2010 / August
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August 2010 - MILES AND MILES OF BEETLE KILLED FORETS - The State of our National Forests - Helena National Forest - Helena, MT.
MILES AND MILES OF BEETLE KILLED FORETS - The State of our National Forests - Helena National Forest - Helena, Montana.
The reddish-brown pine trees are dying. This bug-killed devastation stretches for many, many miles, and has been developing over the last 4 years. What is being done about it? So far.... just talk in Washington. The forests' that I saw, included; the Beaverhead-Deer Lodge NF, Helena NF, parts of the Lolo and Flathead NF including parts of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. These dying forests present a triple threat. 1)- Dead forests (loss of billions of dollars of our resources), 2)-which becomes fuel for horrendous fires, (remember southern California in 2009, 2008, and 2007?) and 3)-the continuing release of billions of tons of CO2 or Greenhouse gases. This release will continue until the trees are totally decayed.... for many years to come.
Dead, dying and burned forests in our western National forests currently estimated at around 70 million acres plus, are projected to release more CO2 than human activity on an annual basis. Wouldn't it make environmental sense to clean up these forests and eliminate the CO2 accumulation?
What could be done with this wood? Logs for lumber, wood chips for paper, wood for bio-fuel, chips for 'clean' electric energy generation, and thousands of "shovel-ready jobs." This could be a win-win for the environment and the thousands of family-wage jobs it would create for years to come.