New study downplays fire risk caused by beetles

DENVER — The infestation of tree-killing bugs sweeping through millions of acres of forests might help prevent fires rather than fuel them, according to a new study.

The outbreak of beetles that burrow under the bark, eventually killing the tree, might reduce wildfire risk by naturally thinning forests, according to the report released Tuesday by researchers from Colorado State University, the University of Colorado and the University of Idaho.

"We are suggesting that the supposed fire risk is probably overblown," said Bill Romme, professor of fire ecology at Colorado State and the lead researcher. "It's possible the insects are doing the forest thinning that we would never be able to afford."

An expert with the U.S. Forest Service criticized the report as "selective science," saying it appears to advocate a hands-off approach to managing forests.

"I would submit there are valid situations where well-planned management can maintain the forests how we want," said Wayne Shepperd of the Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Research Station in Fort Collins, Colo.

State and federal land managers have become more alarmed about swaths of dead trees turning into fuel for wildfires as the beetles have fanned out through Western forests. Beetles have destroyed more than 7 million trees in Colorado over the past 10 years, said Joe Duda, forest-management-division supervisor for the State Forest Service.

Congress appropriated $1 million this year to help remove dead or dying trees.

The new study cautions that removing trees won't stop the spread of the beetles. Dead or dying trees don't mean the forest is unhealthy but "may instead reflect a natural process of forest renewal," according to the study. Similar outbreaks have occurred in the past.