For Immediate Release: March 10, 2003:

BLM Seeking Public Comment on Preventative Beetle Infestation Project at
Popular Sites in Canyons of the Ancients National Monument

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is asking for public comment on a proposal to safeguard mature piñon pine trees from the Ips beetle infestation at popular recreational and cultural sites in Canyons of the Ancients National Monument.

Preventive spraying is a proven method of keeping healthy, but susceptible, piñon pines alive, despite an attempted attack by Ips beetles. The proposal calls for the spraying by hand of Carbaryl pesticide, commonly known as Sevin, on the trunks and branches of up to 150 selected trees at the Anasazi Heritage Center, Sand Canyon Pueblo, Lowry Pueblo, and Painted Hand Pueblo.

“Some of these trees are up to four hundred years old, and they’re either in front of the museum or providing a lot of aesthetic values at these recreation sites,” said Ken Reed, BLM Forester. “The insect experts tell us that we may lose up to 90 percent of the piñon trees in these areas. We’d like to try to select the trees we want to keep, rather than leaving it completely up to nature in these heavily visited areas.”

Treatments would only take place in dry weather conditions to avoid water contamination, and sites proposed for treatment are not near any perennial water sources. Treatments would only take place when wind speeds are less than five miles per hour to reduce drift. Signs will be posted to warn against piñon-nut harvesting from treated trees. Trees that have been treated will be marked.

The sites would be closed to the public during the proposed treatments and until the pesticide dries completely. As a precaution, plastic would be laid on the ground below treated trees in sensitive archaeological areas.

The Four Corners region is experiencing an Ips pine beetle epidemic that has already killed thousands of mature piñon pine trees. The beetles, which are now wintering in many of the dead trees, are expected to emerge in late March or early April and fly into nearby healthy piñon trees. For that reason, it is imperative that protection measures be taken as soon as possible.

Written comments should be submitted by no later than Monday, March 24, 2003, to Ken Reed, BLM Forester, 100 North 6th Street, Dolores, CO. 81323.

The EA will be available on the Canyons of the Ancients website at www.co.blm.gov/canm/CarbarylEA.pdf

Hard copies of the EA will be available at the Anasazi Heritage Center & Dolores Public Lands Office.

For more information, contact Reed at 970-882-7296, or via email at: kreedjr@fs.fed.us