So for all the people a few weeks ago who were knocking the University and the research that goes on up there, these sort of announcements go a long way to helping the lumber industry keep value in the wood by making the rest of the wood industry understand what it is going on.

Darn. I thought maybe someone had produced an anti-beetle.

"It is generally believed that trees fully submerged in water will last until needed"

solution 1 - dam the valleys to save the dead trees?
solution 2 - cut the timber and store it in Tabor Lake?

"Sunlight - Intense sunlight will dry out the tree causing a spiral grain split which twists the tree and renders it useless for lumber"

Good thing that quality control is happening naturally in the field rather than milling the wood and people getting split boards in their decks. Notice that the study below speaks about lowering of average board width due to checking. Perhaps Ponderosa Pine acts differently.

Are we re-inventing the wheel? I have heard all of this for at least a year and logner. Hopefully there will be some more up-to-date news which will cause the industry and the Ministry to go back to their palnning so that they can recover more than they have been assuming so far based on historic knowledge of smaller beetle kills.

http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rp428.pdf#search=%22ponderosa%20pine%20dead%20harvesting%20colorado%22

The Summary states:

Standing dead timber in the Colorado Front Range was left by an epidemic of the mountain pine beetle in the mid-1970s. Trees were sampled to evaluate the losses in lumber volume and value recovery as time since death increased. A live control and four classes of dead ponderosa pine trees were sampled. The timber was sawn into lumber, primarily 1-inch boards (93 percent). No statistically significant differences were found in volume recovery among the live and four classes of dead. Lumber volume recovery in cubic feet and board feet is presented.

Significant differences in lumber value were found and ultimately the logs were reclassified into three classes based on these differences. The final classes were live, dead less than 2 years, and dead 3 to 5 years. The value loss was about 10 percent in the first 2 years and 17 percent for trees dead 3 to 5 years. Value loss was caused primarily by blue stain, which lowered the lumber grade to 3 Common or 4 Common. Average board width also decreased because of increased checking as time since death increased.

Early detection of beetle epidemics and immediate use of the timber resource before the trees start to show signs of mortality will result in little or no value loss. After the first year, the sapwood had blue stain and the lumber grade had declined. Trees dead more than 2 years produced no high-quality lumber and were affected by blue stain, checking, rbt, and wood borers.

Maybe Dave Zirnhelt's brain should have been under a magnifying glass for a while many sunny summers ago. "We don't log in parks.!" Duh!