Regional
(2010-05-18)
GREELEY, CO
(KUNC) -
Trees killed by the bark beetle in Colorado and Wyoming pose a threat to people and to infrastructure. And the U.S. Forest Service is now asking for help to keep those trees from damaging power lines.The agency recently completed an environmental assessment of the impacted areas in Colorado - and is giving more than a dozen utilities permission to go in and remove the hazardous trees. But they're also asking them to help pick up most of the cost.
Mary Ann Chambers is with the Forest Service's Bark Beetle Incident Management Team
"These utility companies they all have permits or right of ways with us and with those comes a certain, there are certain obligations when you build something on the National Forest. So it's really a part of doing business"
The agency estimates that it would cost 600-million dollars to do the work on their own. Something officials say can't be done at their current funding levels. Bark beetles have wiped out 3.6 million acres of lodge pole pine trees since1996. And it's believed that nearly 100-thousand trees will fall every day in the coming years.
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