DENVER — A longstanding specter of the Colorado mountains is gaining ground in a new conquest of ponderosa pine forests. An outbreak of the mountain pine beetle is spreading quickly and expected to continue this summer under “prime conditions,” according to a 2025 forest health report and pine beetle article by the Colorado State Forest Service. Survey flights over parts of nine Colorado counties showed a 148% increase in beetle-impacted acreage from 2024 to 2025. Observers recorded 5,544 acres of dead or dying trees during flights last year, up from 2,236 acres the year prior. …Victimized trees were observed at nearly every Colorado latitude, from the northern border to Pueblo in the Front Range, and Grand Junction to the southern border on the Western Slope. …As of May 29, the state’s snowpack stood at 15% of median, depriving forests of moisture needed to prevent both wildfires and the spread of the pine beetle.