[PCA] NEWS: Some See Beetle Attacks on Western Forests as a Natural Event

[Olivia Kwong]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/07/science/earth/07beetles.html?ref=science

Some See Beetle Attacks on Western Forests as a Natural Event
By JIM ROBBINS
Published: July 6, 2009

MISSOULA, Mont. -- When Ken Salazar -- then a senator from Colorado, now 
secretary of the interior -- called the attack on millions of acres of 
pine forests by the bark beetle the Katrina of the West, he was expressing 
the common view of the explosive growth of the beetles as an unmitigated 
disaster.

But not everybody sees it that way. Some environmentalists and scientists 
support the beetles. While they acknowledge the severity of the problems 
the beetles are causing, they argue that the insects, which kill only 
mature trees larger than five inches in diameter, are a natural 
phenomenon, like forest fires, and play a vital ecological role.

See the link above for the full article text.