Yellow Fire
by Jon Burch Photography
Title
Yellow Fire
Artist
Jon Burch Photography
Medium
Photograph - Digital Capture
Description
The mountain pine beetle, is a species of bark beetle native to the forests of western North America from Mexico to central British Columbia. It has a hard black exoskeleton, and measures approximately 5 mm, about the size of a grain of rice.
In western North America, the current outbreak of the mountain pine beetle and its microbial associates has destroyed wide areas of lodgepole pine forest, including Colorado. The current outbreak in the Rocky Mountain National Park began in 1996 and has caused the destruction of millions of acres of ponderosa and lodgepole pine trees. According to an annual assessment by the state's forest service, 264,000 acres of trees in Colorado were infested by the mountain pine beetle at the beginning of 2013. This was much smaller than the 1.15 million acres that were affected in 2008 because the beetle has already killed off most of the vulnerable trees.
Mountain pine beetles inhabit ponderosa, whitebark, lodgepole, Scotch, and limber pine trees. Normally, these insects play an important role in the life of a forest, attacking old or weakened trees, and speeding development of a younger forest. However, unusual hot, dry summers and mild winters throughout the region during the last few years, along with forests filled with mature lodgepole pine, have led to an unprecedented epidemic. The threat of mountain pine beetle to Canada's boreal forest may be the largest forest insect blight ever seen in North America. Climate change has contributed to the size and severity of the outbreak, and the outbreak itself may, with similar infestations, have significant effects on the capability of northern forests to remove greenhouse gas such as carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
This image was made in Rocky Mountain National Park in northern Colorado.
Some digital effects were added to the image after the original photograph was made. No electrons were harmed during this transition...
Image Copyright 2013 Jon Burch Photography
Uploaded
October 8th, 2013
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