Our Future Forest: Beyond Bark Beetles

“Introducing Dendroctonus ponderosae, a tiny bug, smaller than a rice grain. For the last 15 years or so, these bugs have been living it up.”

So begins a new short-film series that investigates the story of the bark beetle outbreak in our western forests and shows how the U.S. Forest Service is responding.

The project is a collaboration of the Medicine Bow and Routt National Forests and the University of Wyoming Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources. Special thanks to Brian Glaspell for dreaming up and launching the venture, and to Anne Jakle for fostering the partnership.

All videos were produced by Aaron Voos and Emilene Ostlind and were filmed and edited by Morgan Heim in 2014.