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ST. GEORGE — Across the Markagunt Plateau, a volcanic field in Southern Utah, "skeleton trees" killed by bark beetles in the mid-1990s and early 2000s stand tall and bare against the mountain sky. In many areas, saplings bring new life to the devastated landscape.
The forest is regenerating, but is it still at risk?
Jesse Morris, a research professor at the University of Utah who has worked in and around the higher elevations of Southern Utah for nearly 20 years said forests throughout Central and Southern Utah were "absolutely hammered" by bark beetles beginning in about 1997 until the early 2010s.
The tree species most impacted in the forests surrounding Cedar Breaks National Monument and Brian Head was the Englemann Spruce.
