The spruce beetle is one of many beetle species that have recently increased their breeding times due to global warming. Their spread has also been aided by loggers leaving stumps that the beetles can overwinter within. The overpopulation of beetles in some forests in Kenai, Alaska, has damaged several spruce species that are no longer able to dwell there. The spruce beetle destroyed (2 billion board feet) of spruce forests in Alaska from 1992 to 1999 (about 30 million trees per year at the peak), and of Utah forests in the 1990s (more than 3 million trees). Outbreaks from 1975 to 2000 were seen in Montana (loss of 25 million board feet), Idaho (loss of 31 million board feet), Arizona (loss of over 100 million board feet), and British Columbia (loss of 3 billion board feet). As of 2000, the beetle was responsible for the loss of about 400 million board feet annually.http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/fidls/sprucebeetle/sprucebeetle.htm USFS Spruce Beetle Dendroctonus rufipennis is also a part of the ecosystem in Colorado.
