When it comes to how wildlife adjust to living in forests ravaged by the beetle outbreak in Colorado, there are winners and losers, according to new research. The mountain pine and spruce beetle epidemic has wiped out about 21% of Colorado’s 24.4 million acres of forested land since 1996, perhaps the starkest change on the landscape in recorded history. “It’s such a huge impact,” said Jake Ivan, a senior research scientist with Colorado Parks and Wildlife. “This level of outbreak, that we know of, is bigger than anything, at least in recorded history. And maybe beyond.” Because the outbreak is relatively new to the landscape, not much study has been done on how species are affected by living in beetle-kill forests. Recently, however, CPW and the U.S. Forest Service partnered to take the first step to understand how wildlife have responded, among the first pieces of work to quantify the consequences of the beetle outbreak to animals. “It’s still a relatively new phenomenon,” Ivan said. “We just don’t know much about it.” To view the full article visit the Durango Herald.
