Beetle-beset trees to face forester’s ax

Saturday, 03 April 2010 14:15

Rio Grande National Forest officials have signed off on a project that would salvage up to 878 acres of beetle-infested spruce trees in southern Conejos County. The project calls for harvesting between 8 million and 13.1 million board feet from a part of the forest that sits along the Rio de los Pinos, roughly two miles northwest of Cumbres Pass. Aerial surveys conducted last year found the spruce beetle has spread to roughly 144,000 acres of the 1.9 million acre national forest, but officials are not counting on the project to halt the infestation.