From just about any home in Summit County or any Frisco Condo or practically any mountain real estate one cannot avoid noticing all the vast swaths of auburn/rust color spreading as far as the eye can see. Even from the shores of Lake Dillon, looking towards Frisco Colorado and taking in the hills that lead up to Peak One and then from Frisco all the way up the Ten Mile range itself the rust colored and now dead lodgepole pine trees are ever more obvious.
For those locals that live in their Frisco home or their Dillon Condo along the lake this view has become commonplace and goes virtually unnoticed today as it is now a very real part of our mountain vistas. For most of the locals and people that visit Summit County or have recently purchase real estate here often they have adapted and are no longer astonished when gazing out of their Frisco property or other Colorado Mountain Real Estate in Summit County – often it takes comparing an old photo of, say, Peak One towering over the Town of Frisco from the other side of the Lake in Dillon and comparing it to what the view is today. A few years ago that view was full of live green lodgepole pine trees and today, well it is something completely different.
Visitors that seldom make it to the mountains see the pine beetle kill as something all together different. It is the first thing that catches their eye and they are astonished as they gaze upon all the brown, rust and dried brittle looking dead lodgepole pine trees throughout Summit County. It is hard to believe that this pine beetle epidemic could spread so fast and cover such a vast area of the Rocky Mountains. Originally it was thought that a deeply cold winter would stop the onslaught, but we just haven’t seen brutally cold winters where the temperatures sunk to negative 30 and stayed. Overall we have been relatively warmer over the winter in Frisco, Colorado.
One only needs to take hike up from Dillon on the Tenderfoot trail or up from Silverthorne on Ptarmigan Mountain to take advantage of the tremendous views towards Frisco, Colorado and Breckenridge. And while taking in those Summit County vistas one can clearly see the beetle kill. You can also see recent clear cut areas with young pines that have not been damaged by the beetle as they shine with a bright green!
On the other hand this is nothing new as in the 1980’s there was a pine beetle outbreak in Summit County and close to Breckenridge, Colorado. The only difference is that back then it was colder and a few severe winters with deep freezes took care of the pine beetle’s outbreak. Besides warmer weather other things have contributed to this recent epidemic; such as most of the trees being around the same age due to massive logging and clear cutting in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s: creating vast stands of lodgepole pines of the same type and same age. Couple that with a century of fire suppression in our national forest and you have an older population of trees nearing their normal life cycle end that are very susceptible to the pine beetle.
What the future holds for the pine beetle remains to be seen. But, currently we are hearing that the spreading is continuing and even moving from these specific lodgepole pines to other trees throughout the state. Some are using the beetle kill pine to create art, building materials and even furniture. For example in my office on Frisco’s main street we had a custom desk made entirely from local beetle kill pine.
No matter what your interest are or questions are, we can help. I have been enjoying all the Summit County area has to offer for over 20 years now and active in local mountain real estate for over 14 of those 20 years - feel free to put my experience and knowledge to work for you. When you need anything I am a quick email away at Mail@JeffAngell.com or use our online contact form.
