Bark Beetle Workshop

Are bark beetles the villain of the ponderosa forest, or just doing their job? Step into the pines with NAU's Sneha Vissa, Ph.D., for a morning that will change how you look at a rust-colored tree.

You have seen them on every drive up 180 — the stands of pines gone red and brittle. Bark beetles usually get the blame, and the story is more complicated than "pest."

Join Sneha Vissa, Ph.D., of Northern Arizona University for an hour in the pines on the beetle that helps shape our forests: how they live, why some years are so much worse than others, the strange relationship they have with the trees they inhabit, and the role they play in a forest that is working the way it should.

Bring your questions. This is a good one for anyone who has ever stood under a dying tree and wondered what was going on inside it.