Rejuvenating the forest

In July 2017, the United States Forest Service (USFS) began planning for the Landscape and Vegetation Analysis (LaVA) project in response to the mountain pine beetle and spruce bark beetle epidemics that plagued the Medicine Bow National Forest (MBNF) for nearly 20 years. The regeneration of the MBNF may be taking its natural course, but the LaVA project is aimed at helping accelerate that process.

“We’re really looking at the restoration aspect of this and resiliency piece,” said Frank Romero, district ranger for both the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest and the Thunder Basin National Grass...