Day 189 - March 12, 2010 The Mountain Pine Beetle and The Death of the Forest

Mushrooms of the shady forest floor give way to wildflowers offered by new sun. Song birds fly a desperate search for their nesting sites. Squirrels hunger for pine nuts that no longer produce. Hummingbird clouds that once circled feeders, replaced by an occasion buzz. I am observing an ecosystem evolve as a forest dies.
On September 9th I wrote about the pine beetle infestation that is devastating the lodge pole pine forests of the Rocky Mountains and at that time I said that I would not mention it again in the blog. A recent photo excursion into the Rocky Mountain National Park has caused me to rescind that promise and while I will not post these photos on my web site, I will post a stunning one here. I am not a journalist nor do I have a political stand on this issue, but as a photographer it is impossible to ignore and impossible not to chronicle this stunning natural phenomenon that will change the Rocky Mountain landscape for a hundred years to come.

Rocky Mountain National Park February 2010

Research tells me that for every “expert” who claims this devastation is the result of global climate change, there is another “expert” who claims this is the natural cycle of life in the forest. While it is pretty clear that climate change is real, it is not clear to me that the pine beetle infestation is in fact caused or exacerbated by climate change.

We grieve for the death of the forest.