Extreme drought and bark beetles now threaten California's Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, home to Methuselah, a 4,853-year-old bristlecone pine.

Extreme drought and bark beetles now threaten California's Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, home to Methuselah, a 4,853-year-old bristlecone pine.

The lodgepole pine and spruce-fir forests of the Intermountain West are reeling under a one-two punch: more frequent and severe wildfires, and an epidemic of tree-killing bark beetles.

wildfire Pine beetle kill not more likely to burn, study says The study was done because of severe and extensive native bark beetle outbreaks in response to warming temperatures and drought.

Western bark beetle killed nearly 30% of giant pine trees in California. Drought and high temperatures due to climate change help beetles reproduce quickly.

If beetle populations grow and drought conditions continue, the beetles can attack in numbers large enough to overwhelm a tree’s defenses. In large numbers, they can attack and kill healthier trees.

The West's ancient and resilient bristlecone pines have appeared immune to bark beetle infestations devastating conifer forests. That changed when bristlecones began dying in Utah's Wah Wah Mountains.

Hotter droughts and bark beetles are for the first time in recorded history killing bristlecones, according to a recent study published in the scientific journal Forest Ecology and Management.

Herbal tea may soothe your nerves, but it’s stinky stuff if you’re a bark beetle. So say U.S. Forest Service scientists who have found that sprinkling tiny flakes of tea containing the pheromone ...

"It's called an Ips Engraver -- a type of pine beetle," said Tony Hahn, arborist with DCPS. “It’s just hundreds and thousands of these little bark beetles that go after these trees.” ...

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — A state’s insect expert called the discovery of a tree-killing bark beetle in a Bothell trap “concerning.” Washington state officials have been tracking ...