Free Republic

The dead wood of Colorado’s lodgepole pine forest should be harnessed as biomass energy before it becomes fuel for a conflagration, a former Aspen mayor said. One way to do that could be a biomass project in Eagle County, where a Provo, Utah, company is considering construction of a 10-megawatt plant. Dean Rostrom, principal of Evergreen Clean Energy LLC, will discuss plans for a plant at a regional biomass summit from 12:45 to 4:45 p.m. Wednesday in the Carbondale town hall. The denuded lodgepole forest covering 4.2 million acres is becoming more dangerous, not less, as trees killed by the...

An unstoppable wave could devastate 3 million acres of lodgepole pines. Mountain pine beetles are obliterating a forest that stretches from British Columbia to Mexico, and in the process are creating a hazard for fire, public safety and water supply. “What we’re looking at is an entire lodgepole pine forest dying right before our eyes,”... Severson described the problem to the Colorado Water Congress at its convention last week.... More than 22 million acres eventually will be destroyed in the American West. Meanwhile, the beetles are making their way across Canada toward the Atlantic Ocean as well. The lack of...