Study finds bug-killed timber not fire-prone; Forest Service dismisses the findings.

According to this AP story, a study has been released from researchers at three western universities that suggests that fire concerns from bug-killed trees are "overblown."

"We are suggesting that the supposed fire risk is probably overblown," said Bill Romme, professor of fire ecology at Colorado State and the lead researcher. "It's possible the insects are doing the forest thinning that we would never be able to afford."

The Forest Service, which has never seen a problem that cannot be solved by either more logging or more livestock grazing, has dismissed the findings as "selective science" because it "appears to advocate a hands-off approach."

According to the study, "removing trees won't stop the spread of the beetles. Dead or dying trees don't mean the forest is unhealthy but "may instead reflect a natural process of forest renewal." Similar outbreaks have occurred in the past.

One thing about bug killed trees is that the needles fall to the forest floor pretty fast, and this dramatically reduces the flammability of the tree.

Thanks to a California reader for sending me the link to the story.

Note: a more thorough version of the story is from the Denver Post, and is here.