Editor:

In response to "Beetles may drive camp closures" (Nov. 13), I would like to draw attention to a major gap in the article’s reporting. The article describes the negative impact mountain pine beetles are having on Wyoming’s forests but fails to mention one of the primary culprits: global climate change.

Although mountain pine beetles are native to the region and the region has experienced infestations in the past, the current epidemic is unlikely to dissipate as winters become warmer and warmer. Historically, lengthy and extreme cold snaps killed off the beetle larvae and halted the infestation. Lately, Wyoming has not experienced the level of cold required to kill the beetles. And so the beetle marches on.

Funding to prevent and treat the effects of pine beetle damage on Wyoming’s forests is needed. However, we cannot truly fight the pine beetle infestation unless we begin to confront global climate change.

In the article, Representative Lummis astutely notes that "Wyoming’s citizens and our local tourism economies depend on and deserve access to our public lands." Yet without a reduction in global warming pollution, we will see more trees die and will begin to see numerous other landscape-wide effects from global climate change that could harm Wyoming’s tourism economy and change our relationship with our public lands.

The answer to these problems is bigger than securing funding for the Forest Service so that we can keep campgrounds open. We must pass federal legislation to curb global warming pollution and transition to clean energy sources.

MARTHA MARTINEZ DEL RIO, Laramie