02/04/08

RAWLINS, Wyo. (AP) _ Beetles are killing off large swaths of
forest throughout the Rocky Mountain region, but officials in one
Wyoming county are optimistic.

They're hopeful that the dead wood can at least be put to good
use.

Carbon County Commissioner Jerry Paxton says he hopes that
beetle-killed trees can be used for lumber before they become too
dried out, which takes two to three years after a tree dies. He
says the availability of beetle-killed timber in the Medicine Bow
Mountains could be justification to reopen sawmills in Encampment
and Saratoga, two small towns in south-central Wyoming.

There's also talk of using beetle-killed wood to produce
ethanol.

Cold winter weather typically kills off bark beetles, but
several warm winters in a row have led to beetle outbreaks in much
of the West. The trees that are killed can fuel wildfires.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-02-04-08 1600MST<