Healthy, beetle-kill forests pose similar risks

By scott miller

EAGLE COUNTY — As big swaths of area forests turned red, then brown, then gray over the past decade or so, people have looked at the dead trees and wondered what damage a large wildfire might bring. According to a new study from the University of Colorado, large wildfires are just about as damaging to healthy forests as those hit by beetle infestations.The study was published this week in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.” Using federal maps, the study compared areas of western forests burned by wildfire in 2006, 2007 and 2012 with areas infested with pine …

Source:: Vail Daily Feed