Editor’s note: Letters to the editor are not edited and do not represent the views of The New Falcon Herald.
Remove ponderosa pine beetle-infested trunk-logs now!
Ponderosa pines which have soft blobs of pitch tubes on their trunks as a reaction to mountain pine beetle infestation last fall need to be felled, delimbed, and the trunk-wood removed from forested areas by June.
The successfully infested trees (beetles flew in Summer/Fall of 2025) are still green-needled now in March April. They will fade when the weather gets warmer and the tree cannot pull water to the top. Fading may occur sooner this year, and beetle development from pupa to adult may be sooner also because of the mild winter and longer activity seasons.
The currently faded trees, visible during winter of 2025-26, and still brown in March-April were infested in 2024, and faded in 2025. These faded crowns and dry trees are a fire hazard, but they no longer have mountain beetle. These no longer have mountain pine beetles in their trunks. Infestations from 2021-2023 are mostly completely dead and bare.
The critical trees to identify now still have green crowns but have pitch tubes on their trunks, from 2-3 feet up from the base to a 6” diameter at the tree top or main or forked stems, and blue stain on wood beneath the bark which can be checked by using an ax to peel back bark samples 3-4 feet up from the tree base.
These trees have not faded yet. Occasionally strong, older trees (survivors of past epidemics) will pitch out beetles, but these will not have the telltale blue stain from the fungus which is plugging the food and water tubes and feeding the larvae.
The larvae will soon stop feeding and pupate and emerge in summer as adults to infest new trees.
Trees with mountain pine beetle pitch tubes on the trunks (above the area at the base used by terpentine beetles) AND also have blue-stained wood should be felled and the trunk wood taken to Rocky Top Resources on East Las Vegas Street for tub grinding.
Rocky Top accepts all lengths and diameters of trunk wood for large tree grinding. They are open Mon – Saturday. For private landowners the dumping fee M-F is $25 for any size load, and on Saturday is $10.00.
Black Forest Slash/Mulch Site has length (6 feet) and diameter (8”) size limits for trunkwood, and costs $10 per load, It opens Saturday May 2 and is also open Tues and Thursdays 4-7 pm. www.bfslash.org
Infested trunk wood can be buried, and covered with at least 8” of soil. Felled trees must be removed from forested areas because it does not matter if the tree is standing or not for the beetles to complete their life cycle under the bark.
It is too late in the year to do plastic solar treatment (that is used on the newly hatched larvae in Nov.-Dec.), and also too late for mastication. Mastication can be used on thinner-barked lodgepole pine but only in the Fall.
Spraying or injections cannot save a tree that was infested last fall and has currently developing mountain pine beetles.
Pesticide spraying or Verbenone repellent pheromone can be used to protect high value trees from future 2026 infestation.
This is an especially critical year to move infested ponderosa trees away from forested areas or shelterbelts because of the extended breeding and development seasons, and tree weakness due to drought, warm temperatures and wind.
The Colorado State Forest Health Report is due to be release in late March. You can Search: ‘Forest Health Report – Colorado – (YEAR) i.e. 2025, 2024, etc)’ to see the results of last July’s faders’ aerial survey. General information on mountain pine beetle can be found by searching ‘mountain pine beetles – Colorado’. you can also contact the Colorado State Forest Service Office in Woodland Park.
On December 15, 2025 Gov. Polis announced the special concern for mountain pine beetle infestation throughout the Front Range of Colorado, and appointed the Task Force in February. This can be searched at: ‘Polis – Mountain Pine Beetle Task Force’ and there are further links in this material.
Judith von Ahlefeldt, Ecologist
Black Forest
