Battling the Pine Beetle In Summit County
Pine Beetle Forces Dillon To Cut Hundreds Of Trees
By Andrea Lopez
(CBS4) DILLON, Colo. The town of Dillon plans
to cut down hundreds of trees this spring to try to fight the invasion of pine
beetles.
Dillon parks have been hit very hard by the pine beetle. The town plans to spend
$35,000 by the end of spring for just cutting down all the infected trees.
They hope to have all the work done by the end of June, before the beetle flies.
Right now is the time the beetles are burrowing and developing under the bark of
the trees.
The town has identified 600 infected trees and marked them to be cut down. Last
year Dillon removed 165 trees from town property.
They also sprayed healthy trees with a repellant, but that was not as successful
as they had hoped. In 2005, the town sprayed 500 trees and saw an 85 percent
success rate, but the beetle problem is getting worse.
The town of Frisco is also joining in the fight against the pine beetle by
teaming up with homeowners. They have identified more the 1,500 infected trees
on private property. They have marked those trees and have given homeowners
until May 18 to cut them down.
The beetle infestation is spreading so fast that last year, Dillon identified
four times as many infected trees as the year before.
SummitPineBeetle.org is a service of
Our Future Summit
330 Fiedler Street, Suite 206A Dillon Colorado 80435
970-468-7875