Pine Beetle killed trees force campground closures; rangers warn of backcountry danger.
Pine beetles cramp campers
Heather Hansman, For the Camera
Originally published 08:07 p.m., July 2, 2009
BOULDER, Colo. —
When campers have more trouble than usual finding a campsite this holiday weekend, they can blame the pine beetle.
Thirteen of 233 national forest campgrounds and picnic areas in
Colorado and southern Wyoming will be closed this summer because of
hazardous beetle-killed trees. Five more will open later than usual
after dead trees have been removed.
Although it puts a damper on camping plans, the Forest Service stresses that the closures are to keep people safe.
“Public safety is our No. 1 priority. Beetle-killed trees can fall
anytime,” Cal Wettstein, commander of the Rocky Mountain Region Bark
Beetle Incident Management Team, said in a news release.
Once beetles have burrowed into a tree and killed it, the tree will
almost always fall. That makes beetle-killed trees particularly
dangerous in high-traffic areas such as campgrounds.
Kent Foster, recreation specialist for the Hahns Peak/Bears Ears
Ranger District near Steamboat Springs, said he expects most of the
trees there to fall within the next 15 years.
“Ninety percent of the overstory has been killed by mountain pine beetle,” he said. 
Foster said the district is working to clear trees deemed dangerous
— dead or deformed trees, particularly ones that could fall onto
popular camping or picnic sites. The sites will be closed while they
cut the trees down.
The rangers are only cutting trees in maintained areas, not in the backcountry.
“Although the campgrounds are closed, if people want to rough it
there are lots of opportunities,” Foster said. He warned, though, that
backcountry campers should be diligent in looking for trees that could
fall, particularly on windy days.
“They need to watch out where they camp and park their vehicles,”
Foster said. “They should look out for dead snags with cracks and
stress, or trees that are leaning and pulled out of roots.”
To add to the crowding, some additional campgrounds are closed because of washed-out roads and snow.
The Routt National Forest has the most campsites closed, but there
are also closures in the Roosevelt National Forest near Granby and the
White River National Forest in the Dillon area.
In November 2007, William N. Hudson, 68, of Boulder, was killed when
a 50-foot-tall Douglas fir fell on him in the Wild Basin area of Rocky
Mountain National Park. The death of that tree was not related to the
current mountain pine-beetle outbreak, park officials said.
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