$400,000 approved to fight beetles

Staff Reports

A $400,000 grant to develop new tactics to control bark beetles, which have devastated drought-stressed trees in the west was announced last week.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., recently arranged a bipartisan meeting with Jim Hughes, acting director of the Bureau of Land Management, Dirk Kempthorne, secretary of the Interior, and 10 western senators. Bark beetles are difficult to study because they live under bark.