Dear owners,

Two weeks ago the Colorado Forest Service (CFS) plodded through our snowy subdivision inspecting trees for Mountain Pine and Ips beetle infestations and Dwarf Mistletoe.   I am happy to report that by and large there was little to raise serious concern as only 18 trees were identified for removal.  Notices have been sent to the owners with problem trees, so those of you who have not received a letter can breathe a sigh of relief, unless we misjudged a lot line and you have found an orange tagged tree within the perimeter of your lot.  I have received a couple of calls indicating we may have done this a couple of times; with snow and hampered sight lines, we did our best.

Although we came through in relatively good shape, CFS did make some general observations and comments about the overall health and maintenance of the Bent Tree forests, which I have outlined below.

1.       Tree Spacing: Although most lots have good spacing between the trees, there are many lots that have what CFS refers to as “dog hair”, a cluster of small closely spaced saplings that detract from the overall health of the forest.  These trees create crowding, poor growing conditions, “ladders” for fires, and, most importantly, they draw water from larger more healthy trees, weakening them to potential beetle infestation.  A healthy forest should have a MINIMUM of 15’ between trees of 8” or greater and at least 12’ between trees of 4-8” in diameter.  Each owner should evaluate their forest and remove the heavy underbrush as it is extremely dangerous and damaging to the forest.

2.        Dwarf Mistletoe:  This parasite is wide spread throughout the Bent Tree subdivision.  And while it could be eradicated by cutting down all infested trees, this is draconian as most trees can live for decades with the mistletoe.  As an alternative, there are a couple of ways to minimize the effects of the mistletoe; first, on large trees by removing limbs with mistletoe you can lessen the spread of the spores, and, second, the early removal of small infected trees can greatly enhance health and limit the spread of the infestation.  Sadly there is no preventative spray or other means of control.

3.       Fire Safety:  Owners should survey their trees to be sure they have cleared dead branches to a height of 12-15 feet to avoid creating a “fire ladder” that would take a fire into the crown of the forest.  Secondly, the owners should evaluate dead trees on the ground as they can become fuel for a fire, especially if they are close to structures.

4.       Wood Storage:  It was observed that many owners piled cut logs between trees, and while this seems like a good means of keeping logs neat and tidy, it actually creates an incubator for the Ips Beetle.  Ips love anything with water retaining cellulose, so cutting and storing freshly cut green logs between trees is throwing out the welcome mat to these guys.

5.       Ips v Mountain Pine Beetle:  Mountain Pine Beetles are the more gourmet of the two, they only want the best, mature trees of a minimum of 6-8” trunk diameter.   Ips are more garbage foragers as they will attack predominantly downed, dying trees and smaller scrub trees, although they will attack larger trees if the opportunity presents itself.  Other differences are that the Mountain Pine Beetle flies only once a year, normally the end of May and through June; Ips tends to be very lazy, feasting on one tree and then gliding on the wind to its next victim.  Mountain Pine tend to hit once and move on; Ips hit a tree, producing four of five offspring during the course of the year, killing the tree and then, and only then, moving on.

6.       Spraying:  Beetle infestation can be controlled with spraying.  If you wish to employ this method, it must be done prior to the beetles flying.  Any time between now and the beginning of June should be effective.  Although you can do this treatment yourself, CFS recommends that a qualified contractor be used to provide proper coverage.

7.       Removal of Infested Trees:  Although trees can be removed by the owner, proper disposal may be an issue as most owners do not have a chipping machine available and the Black Forest Mulching Center will only take trees under 8” in diameter and cut to 6’ lengths.  Processing on-site using plastic is a problematic means of killing the beetles as it is only effective when the beetles are in their larvae stage, if they are already beetles they will just gnaw their way through the plastic and go their merry way.   And as a sidebar, it is not the heat that kills the beetles; it is a bacterium that the warm environment creates.  Bottom line on tree removal, it is probably best to leave it to the experts, they have the equipment and skills necessary to do the job effectively.  

I hope that this information is useful and will offer some food for thought.  I would like to thank the vast majority of you who participated and look forward to working with you on any forest related issue.

If you would like me to do an inspection or would like to discuss any tree issue, please feel free to contact me at (719) 481-1388, I would be most happy to assist.

Sincerely,

Larry Stevens

Bent Tree Forestry Chair