Al Gore to connect climate change to beetle kill

Former Vice President Al Gore will be in Aspen in February to attend what’s believed to be one of the first major public symposiums linking global climate change to the deteriorating health of forestland in the American West due to ongoing insect infestations and the growing threat of wildfire.

“Forests At Risk: Climate Change & the Future of the American West” is scheduled for Feb. 18 at the Doerr-Hosier Center on the campus of the Aspen Institute. Gore, a Democrat, Nobel laureate and Oscar-winning advocate for reversing the impacts of global climate change, will be the keynote speaker.

Harris Sherman, former head of Colorado’s Department of Natural Resources and current Obama administration undersecretary of agriculture for natural resources and environment (with oversight of the U.S. Forest Service), will kick off the event, which is sponsored by the Aspen-based nonprofit For The Forest.

Several scientists and forest health experts will also speak and conduct workshops throughout the day, culminating in the keynote address by Gore. Deteriorating forest health and the looming threat of catastrophic wildfires were hot topics this summer and fall as major blazes raged in and around Boulder and Winter Park – areas hit by an ongoing mountain pine bark beetle epidemic.

The outbreak is at least partially the result of warmer temperatures that allow beetle larvae to survive the winter months. Drought and warmer summer temperatures also stress lodgepole pines and limit their ability to repel the insects, which ultimately will kill up to 90 percent of the mature lodgepole pines in the state.

There is some debate about whether beetle-killed forests are more susceptible to wildfires and what steps should be taken to mitigate the situation, but most firefighters agree the red, dead trees burn hotter, making it difficult to fight blazes in increasingly populated mountain areas.

Some scientists predict up to half the forests in the American West will be lost to disease and fire during this century.

“Our forests are changing — and quickly,” John Bennett, executive director of For The Forest, said in a release. “While different superficial causes exist, the bottom-line common denominator appears to be the warmer forest temperatures we’re seeing across the West. Increased forest mortality is another calling card of climate change.”

The Aspen symposium, according to Bennett, will try to “reframe the national dialogue about climate change in personal terms that people can relate to. Some people in Colorado may wonder what significance melting glaciers in Antarctica or rising sea levels in the South Pacific have to their lives in the Rocky Mountains, but when they see millions of acres of forests dying across the state, they know immediately why it matters.”

River Name / Location	Stream flow, ft3/s	Gage height ft
Gore Creek
At Upper Station, Near I-70 Twin Bridges	n/a	4 ft
Booth Creek	n/a	4 ft
Abv Red Sandstone Creek At Vail	190	6 ft
At Mouth Near Minturn	223	7 ft
Beaver Creek
At Avon	21	2 ft
Lake Creek
Near Edwards	79	1 ft
Cross Creek
Near Minturn	100	4 ft
Homestake Creek
At Gold Park	127	5 ft
Eagle River
East Fork Eagle River Near Climax	n/a	2 ft
At Red Cliff	30	3 ft
Near Minturn	234	4 ft
Wastewater Treatment Plant At Avon	671	5 ft
Below Gypsum	826	5 ft
Colorado River
Near Kremmling	404	4 ft
Near Dotsero	1,630	3 ft
Below Glenwood Springs	3,140	5 ft
Near Cameo	3,740	6 ft
Below Grand Valley Div Nr Palisade	2,080	5 ft
Near Colorado-utah State Line	4,120	4 ft
Near Cisco, Ut	4,060	3 ft
At Lees Ferry, Az	12,100	9 ft
Near Grand Canyon, Az	12,200	9 ft
Yuma Main Canal Ww At Yuma, Az	987	10 ft
Roaring Fork River
Abv Lost Man Cr Near Aspen	n/a	n/a ft
Ab Difficult C Nr Aspen	53	1 ft
Near Aspen	78	1 ft
Near Emma	476	6 ft
At Glenwood Springs	1,160	3 ft
Hunter Creek
Near Aspen	56	2 ft
At Aspen	47	4 ft
Frying Pan River
Near Ruedi	113	2 ft
Crystal River
Abv Avalanche Crk, Near Redstone	540	2 ft
Arkansas River
Ef Arkansas R At Us Highway 24, Nr Leadville	47	3 ft
Near Leadville	86	5 ft
Below Empire Gulch Near Malta	156	3 ft
Below Granite	453	4 ft
Near Nathrop	451	4 ft
At Parkdale	464	3 ft