Time is of the essence

Dear Editor:

We have a chance to mitigate the arrival and destruction of the pine bark beetles. Aspen has an opportunity that Frisco and the other 1-70 corridor mountain towns didn’t have -” we have an opportunity to implement techniques outlined in the For the Forest Smuggler Stewardship Plan this summer.

Surely, Frisco and its neighbors would have loved to have had an organization that sounded the alarm of the impending pine beetle ” before their beautiful forests were scarred. The time to act is now ” before the next pine beetle eggs hatch in July.

Our community is anxious to mitigate the problem of the pine beetle. Substantial public support for action was demonstrated by the standing-room only turnout at For the Forest presentation at the Jerome. We learned of the urgency of acting now ” this season ” so that another population of pine beetle eggs don’t hatch in July and spread their destruction of our trees.

The For the Forest Plan will be presented at next Tuesday’s Board of County Commissioners 10 a.m. work session. It is imperative that our commissioners hear from you immediately (contact information available at http://www.aspenpitkin.com). The of consequences of failing to act are evident, they need to act now ” not study the problem. They need to act before it’s too late.

Cavanaugh O’Leary Jr., Blanca O’Leary, Cavanaugh O’Leary III

Aspen