An Associated Press article in Thursday’s Idaho Statesman said that new studies presented at a Helena, Montana, seminar are getting close to leading to great understanding of the connection between mountain beetle epidemics and wildfires in the West. A study by a Forest Service ecologist shows for the first time that beetle-killed trees contain 10 times less moisture and a different chemical makeup than healthy trees. According to the story “that means the red needles of beetle-killed trees can ignite three times faster and burn more intensely than healthy trees.”
There it is: a study confirming what we all have observed if we’ve watched a forest fire.
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