Leaders Address Pine Beetle Problem

Posted: Tuesday, July 12th Filed in: News

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Local News by Kyle Horan last edited on Sunday, July 10, 2011
 
Sunday, some of our nation’s leaders addressed our pine beetle problem in an aggressive way right here in the Black Hills.

Representative Kristi Noem and Representative Rob Bishop from Utah who chairs the National Parks Subcommittee listened to testimonies from Black Hills residents.

In attendance, leaders from the Black Hill Badlands and Lakes Association, the U.S. Forest Service as well as local businesses and logging companies all with a story of their own.

Representative Noem says one of the main goals of their meeting is to get information to help her break through some of the red tape in Congress.

Noem says, "The federal has been heavily influenced by the environmental world and environmental activists.  Which truly have a role to play as well.  But when that is doing devastation to an area and to land owners and to our Black Hills as we see it, it slows down the process from even allowing us to come in and addressing the problems that we have.  It's not doing us a justice; it's not serving the public which the federal government is supposed to do."

Noem said it's important to know what we're fighting and why we are fighting it so that the federal government can step in appropriately.

The meeting was held outdoors in Hill City on purpose, to give Representative Bishop a better idea of what is happening to Black Hills forests.

For one campground owner, this epidemic is hitting close to home.

Todd George, owner of J Bar Ranch Campground, says, "Some of the biggest frustrations are being here for 41 years, having a long term goal, having a successful business, having a lot of dreams and aspirations, and it could be wiped out in the blink of an eye.  In many respects I think of it as something that didn't have to happen it was preventable."

Officials say the pine beetle infestation has already affected one third of all the Black Hills forests.