The New York Times’ wonderful blog Green Inc. reports on the pine beetle infestation in the west, saying that while the beetles are killing many trees, it’s bringing back the lumber industry out there. Since the dead trees would just be a fire hazard, they have to be cut down. And while you’re at it, why not mill them and have a bunch of lumber ready to go?
This has been a long-lasting problem, actually, and the blog post points out that the only thing that could really stop the problem would be several consecutive days of sub-zero weather to kill off beetle larvae. It also points out that that hasn’t happened in a while. And while I’m at it, I’ll point out that my folks, who live in Colorado — though not in the mountains — reported that the high temperature for yesterday, November 19, was 81 degrees Fahrenheit.
But the silver lining here is that, yes, people are finding uses for the lumber. In fact, when I toured the New Belgium brewery last year, all of the doors in their newest brewhouse building were made from pine beetle-felled trees. Pretty cool. Sort of a fruitarian approach to building.
