Bark beetle in Tahoe-area forest.
DENVER — The Council of Western State Foresters (CWSF) supports the ‘call to action’ in the recent Western Forestry Leadership Coalition (WFLC) publication, The Western Bark Beetle Assessment: A Framework for Cooperative Forest Stewardship- 2nd Edition. As the bark beetle epidemic continues to decimate western forests the WFLC updated the 2-year old report so that information can be utilized now for quick on-the-ground action. The report includes new information on the importance of trees in storing carbon, progress over the past five years and a call to action.
Currently, over 7 million acres of western forests contain dead or dying trees due to bark beetle outbreaks. According to the recent assessment, approximately 22 million additional acres of western forests, on both public and private land, are likely to experience significant (over 25%) tree mortality from bark beetles over the next 15 years.
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