Gov. Ritter Creates Forest Health Council

 

The mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) is a hard black- shelled bark beetle inhabiting western forests from Mexico to British Columbia. It has killed an estimated 1.5 million acres of mature lodge-pole pines over the past decade and could wipe them out in another three to five years.

On Feb. 12, 2008 Colo. Gov. Bill Ritter, the man who signed the state?EUR??,,????'???s landscape architecture practice act last year, created the Colorado Forest Health Advisory Council, a multi-agency action group to coordinate and lead efforts to address the mountain pine beetle epidemic and other threats to Colorado?EUR??,,????'???s 22.6 million acres of forestland.

?EUR??,,????'??Colorado?EUR??,,????'???s forests are vital to our environment, to our communities, to our economy and to our overall quality of life,?EUR??,,????'?? Gov. Ritter said. ?EUR??,,????'??But our forests are at risk, and one of the biggest risks is the mountain pine beetle. This epidemic has decimated more than 1.5 million acres of mature lodge-pole pines over the past decade and could wipe them out in another three to five years.

?EUR??,,????'??Many healthy-forest efforts are already underway,?EUR??,,????'?? says Colo. Gov. Bill Ritter. ?EUR??,,????'??This council will not reinvent the wheel. It will build a better wheel, a faster wheel that maximizes these efforts. This is not another study group. It is an action group.?EUR??,,????'??

?EUR??,,????'??Many people have been working on this issue for years,?EUR??,,????'?? Gov. Ritter noted. ?EUR??,,????'??The time has come for a unified, coordinated and aggressive action plan that enlists all stakeholders as collaborative partners in this fight. The time has come for state government to lead that effort. The Colorado Forest Health Advisory Council will bring together local, state, federal and private interests to identify and implement short-term actions and long-term forest health strategies.?EUR??,,????'??