The Aspen's Demise
You can have your Spring with it’s crocus, just give me a crisp fall day in our western mountains then color it with vine maples, aspens and tamarack. This year from Arizona to Canada the color yellow is missing. I’m Susan Allen, I’ll be back with the story. It is so disheartening that aspens one of my favorite trees are dieing in droves throughout our beautiful west. It was tough enough to observe the carnage beetles created in pine trees now aspens are succumbing to a mysterious aliment. Back in 2002 the U.S. Forest service began to receive reports that stands of aspen were dying in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. After an aerial survey in 2005 they found over 30,000 dying aspens, by last year, 15percent of the states aspen forest were gone. Why.. blame global warming...everyone else does, but another theory is that tree die off is cyclical part of nature, then there is the fact that we are building homes in forested area thus many forest fires are suppressed and not allowed to burn, and that inhibits aspen regeneration. US Forest Service experts feel it could get worse before it gets better. Regions of the west that depend on fall foliage to attract tourists who expect to see vividly colored trees instead of skeletons are feeling the effects of the aspen’s demise as well. I’m Susan Allen
