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jacksonholestartrib.com GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- Forest Service officials says environmentalists delayed a salvage logging project that could have prevented the spread of a spruce beetle epidemic, and more than 100,000 acres of the White River National Forest are at risk as a result. The project to clear thousands of trees toppled by a wind storm on 3,000 acres southwest of Glenwood Springs was approved in 2001. It was approved partly to remove dead trees that provide fertile ground for beetles and their eggs. Environmentalist opposed the project and after years of haggling, agreed on a salvage project that was launched this week. "The original treatments were proposed when the beetles were still contained to the blowdown trees," the Forest Service said. "The settlement was made after the beetles had moved out of the blowdown and were killing healthy spruce." The Forest Service says the forest acreage killed by beetles in 12 Western states jumped from 1.4 million in 1997 to 8.6 million in 2004. Beetle outbreaks, which come in cycles, are determined in part by drought conditions and overall forest health, experts say. Sloan Shoemaker, executive director of Wilderness Workshop, said the Forest Service wanted to log live spruce trees in areas next to the blowdown, and that wasn't necessary to prevent the beetle epidemic. He added that a beetle infestation is a natural process that helps forests regenerate themselves. He said if the Forest Service "hadn't gotten greedy and gone for a windfall" there wouldn't have been an objection to the timber project. |
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