Standing and fallen lodgepole pine trees killed by the mountain pine beetle and its symbiotic blue fungus infection are tangled in the...
{"Image ImageDescription": "DEER LODGE, MONTANA - SEPTEMBER 13: Standing and fallen, lodgepole pine trees killed by the mountain pine beetle and its symbiotic blue fungus infection are tangled in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest September 13, 2019 near Deer Lodge, Montana. According to the 2017 Montana Climate Assessment, the annual average temperatures in the state has increased 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1950 and is projected to increase by approximately 3.0 to 7.0 degrees by midcentury. As climate change makes summers hotter and drier in the Northern Rockies, forests are threatened with increasing wildfire activity, deadly pathogens and insect infestations, including the mountain pine beetle outbreak. Although the number of new trees infested each year by the pine beetle has reduced since the height of the outbreak around 2012, the insects have killed more than six million acres of forest across Montana since 2000.  (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)", "Image Copyright": "2019 Getty Images"}