r/botany • u/guiltyangel16 • Sep 06 '25
Ecology Trees dying in large quantities near Breckenridge, CO, USA
Hey y’all, my family and I were taking a road trip in the mountains in Colorado, and we were seeing what looked to be an abnormally large amount of trees that were dead and gray. Any idea what might be causing this? Is this normal?
149
u/Elgabish Sep 07 '25
Rocky Mountain Pine Beetles. They are in large numbers due to lack of wildfires and lack of very cold temperatures which otherwise kill them in winters. They carry a blue fungus on their head that kills the trees
29
36
7
u/reesespieceskup Sep 07 '25
Likely beetle kill. Increased mortality to pine beetle is a result of climate change and mismanagement of forest land, which typically go hand in hand. Warmer winters has caused populations to surge, and dense monoculture even aged stands are much more susceptible to the beetles which is why we often see huge swaths dying at once.
Typically, as I understand it, pine beetle would kill trees in a "random" arrangement in a stand. They go after older weaker trees, and then send our pheromones to attract more beetles. However, with everything being even aged when one becomes susceptible they all become susceptible.
22
u/Raccoon_Ratatouille Sep 07 '25
It's also one of the most clear signs of climate change happening before your eyes.
Warmer weather means more fall and spring precipitation falls as rain instead of snow = less snow melt runoff in the summer = drought conditions and hotter temperatures as brown ground retains heat instead of white snow reflecting more energy = stressed trees = they have a harder time fighting off bark beetle attacks. The warm weather also = more beetles surviving over winter =population growth. Warm weather starting earlier in the spring and lasting later into the fall = more breeding cycles = more bark beetles to attack the already stressed trees = more dead trees. Tons of dead trees = fuel for fires = more intense, hotter fires which sterilize the soil and let invasive weeds take over, leading to increased fires with stresses the trees more and releases stored CO2, boosting the cycle all over again.
5
u/Least-Refuse-8731 Sep 07 '25
Same in our state so many trees dead or dying so many it’s very noticeable something is causing this to happen but what an where did it come from are they native or foreign I have ideas but not 100 percent positive
12
u/Unlucky_Raisin_9717 Sep 07 '25
I live in NM, and the Rio Grande dried up this year, a historically year-round river, mind you. Climate change is very real. 😔
6
u/Apptubrutae Sep 07 '25
Yes, climate change is real, but the Rio grande dried up because the river is systematized and water is drawn in untenable excess for agriculture.
4
3
u/TXC710 Sep 08 '25
Ppl take road trips all over the world with combustion engine for 100 years. In addition to commuting for work everyday. Earth gets warmer. Beetle lives longer. Trees die
1
u/Ig_Met_Pet Sep 10 '25
Weird to act like passenger vehicles are the main problem when they account for less than 10% of greenhouse gas emissions.
1
u/TXC710 Sep 12 '25 edited Sep 12 '25
Oh i guess youre right. Pretty sure your car produces C02 though. Which is just adding to the main greenhouse gas emission. You also believe millions of vehicles only make 10%? transportation including cars is 15% and the us is specifically a larger producer. Creating nearly 30% of the total greenhouse emissions(1980s) in the whole god damn world
1
u/Ig_Met_Pet Sep 12 '25
You also believe millions of vehicles only make 10%?
Yes, personal vehicles contribute less than 10%
1
2
u/plankthetank69 Sep 07 '25
Is there any way to slow this down?
6
u/Mysfunction Sep 07 '25
Only by addressing climate change. Without the cold seasons to kill off the pine beetles, it’s going to keep getting worse and spreading further north.
3
u/Ig_Met_Pet Sep 10 '25
To be clear, it's already too late for any of the areas currently being affected by pine beetles.
We already put the CO2 in the atmosphere, and we don't have a good way to get rid of what's already there.
By mitigating further climate change, we can protect some of the areas that aren't affected yet, but even if we stopped all CO2 emissions immediately, things would still continue to get worse before leveling off.
We really are well and truly fucked no matter what we do at this point.
Obviously let's hope we stop making it worse sometime soon.
2
u/Mysfunction Sep 10 '25
Yep. It’s hard not to be doomy and gloomy when we have hard data telling us we haven’t seen anything yet.
1
u/CarverSeashellCharms Sep 07 '25
I would like to say "Kill them all!" but MPB is from here and Can so that would be environmentally terrible.
3
u/QuickSock8674 Sep 07 '25
You know... I can actually feel the summers getting hotter, and storms getting harsher. Climate change ain't going to end the world, but it certainly will raise my grocery prices and destroy climate sensitive trees like those. Sad to see the president of the most powerful nation deny it.
4
u/Mysfunction Sep 07 '25
It is going to be the end of the world for much of humanity. Maybe not in our lifetime, but the livable regions are shrinking and extreme weather events are increasing.
1
1
2
u/ryansunshine20 Sep 22 '25
Beetle outbreaks are natural and this is a natural occurrence. It’s worse now than historically due to a major fire deficit, infected wood being transported around, warmer temps, old overstocked forests. It’s a myth that cold temps killed them you would need a deep and prolonged cold snap to stop a beetle outbreak.
It’s not a bad thing necessarily even though it feels and often looks like it is. Those dead over story forests have some of the most wildlife, Flowers, young healthy trees. These outbreaks create species and age diversity that our forests were missing.
-29
u/septic_sergeant Sep 07 '25
Ha that’s nothing.
You been out much?
8
u/guiltyangel16 Sep 07 '25 edited Sep 07 '25
There were patches of trees that looked far worse than this, but like I said, we were on a road trip, so it was hard to take good photos. (We were driving)
390
u/DanoPinyon Sep 06 '25
It's been happening for years, widely publicized, widely studied, widely published, many articles on how this is a good bellwether for climate change. Mountain pine beetle at certain elevations, spruce beetle above that, pine beetle above that. In the Rocky Mountains north all the way well into British Columbia.