On a sunny fall day outside of Evergreen, arborist Kyle Woods fired up his chainsaw and carved a wedge into a giant, dead pine tree. With a short cut into the upslope side, the tree crashed to the ground, bouncing on needled branches as it slid to a stop.
This 35-acre property is under a multi-year assault from mountain pine beetles, a native rice-sized insect demolishing stands of pine across the Front Range. They’ve decimated a stand of ponderosa pine along the driveway to this private home.
Standing amid a mix of dead and infested trees, Woods looked up at a 60-year-old ponderosa riddled with pitch tubes, marking each beetle’s entry into the tree with a pocket of sap. “It’ll be a goner here soon and then we’ll winch it up the hill and get it out.”
It’s work he’s been doing a lot lately. Jefferson County has one of the highest wildfire risks in the country. An outbreak of the mountain pine beetle, spreading across the Front Range, is increasing that risk by killing off large stands of pine…