Global warming feeds bark beetles: Are they unstoppable?

Hear the sound of chewing out in our vast forests of lodgepole pine, spruce and fir, the chewing that’s already destroyed half the commercial timber in important regions like British Columbia? That’s the sound of climate change, says biologist Reese Halter. Global warming in the form of a bark beetle.

Halter’s short but disturbing new book, “The Insatiable Bark Beetle,” addresses one of the biggest and most visible issues facing global forests, and particularly the relatively large forests left in the U.S. and Canada. As winters grow warmer and summers drier, the West’s evergreen forests are being eaten alive. And the infestation is not showing any signs of slowing.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/environment/la-me-gs-global-warming-and-unstoppable-bark-beetles-20120226,0,1422452.story?track=rss

Article courtesy of The Los Angeles Times- Greenspace by Dean Kuipers