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Wolf Creek Ski Area has removed an estimated 4,000 trees killed from beetle infestation this summer on about 150 acres. Crews on the ground cut the trees down and then a helicopter flew the dead trees out of the forest.

Davey Pitcher, owner of the ski area, said the project removed hazardous trees and also mitigated some fire danger. But more than anything, he said it paved the way for a new ski lift, and created some new beginner/intermediate trails.

The new “Charity Jane Express” is a retriever lift on the east side of the mountain that will remove the need for skiers to traverse back from Horse Shoe Bowl to Alberta Peak.

Because the trees had been dead for five or six years, the quality was not as desirable to the timber industry, so only about 20 percent of the wood could be sold. The rest will either be used as firewood or burned in a slash pile.

In the mid-2000s, as the spruce beetle wreaked havoc across the southern San Juan Mountains, the ski area was right in its path.

In just a few years, nearly all 1,581 acres of the popular ski area about 23 miles east of Pagosa Springs was hit hard by the outbreak, dramatically impacting the landscape.

“Total infestation is inevitable, and we urge the general public to embrace this reality,” the ski resort wrote in 2013.

And although the deadly spruce beetle has moved on, marching its way farther west, the damage continues to be a problem for Wolf Creek, Pitcher said.

“We are ground zero,” Pitcher said. “We’ve had to continue to run a ski area out of a chaotic situation.”

For years, Wolf Creek Ski Area tried to fight the infestation, like setting trap trees that would lure the beetles into a tree. Then, the ski area would cut down the tree and take it off the mountain.

It was all for naught.

“There was really no stopping them,” Pitcher said. “Their populations are so great that it’s kind of like a slow forest fire that traveled through the area.”

Now, Wolf Creek Pass is a stark reminder of the devastating effects of the spruce beetle, with miles of dead trees.

In the aftermath, the swath of dead trees present several problems for Wolf Creek Ski Area.

For example, the fire danger increased exponentially. A fire has yet to break out within the ski area’s boundaries, but the West Fork Fire Complex of 2013 did burn an estimated 109,000 acres of mostly beetle kill on Wolf Creek Pass.

And, as the years pass, the dead trees are more susceptible to falling over, posing a risk to skiers. Pitcher estimates between 20 to 30 trees fall down during a single snowstorm.

Wolf Creek Ski Area has started several extensive projects to lighten the impacts of the beetle kill over the years.

“At one point I was depressed it was going to really change the feel of the forest,” Pitcher said. “But luckily the effect on the skiing has not been as extensive, in a negative way, as I thought it would have been.”

The project will have limited impacts in mitigating fire danger.

Aaron Kimple, forest health program director for Mountain Studies Institute, said the fire danger on Wolf Creek Pass might not be as extreme as some people think, mostly because the trees lost their needles and have been dead for a while.

“Everyone looks up there and sees dead trees, and thinks that whole area is more prone to fire,” he said. “But if it’s just the stem of the trees that lost most of its needles and branches, the fire risk may not be as bad as people think it will be.”

Pitcher agreed. He said the Wolf Creek Ski Area has seen the start of a new generation of trees. In the meantime, the ski mountain will continue to do projects here and there, at least for the next decade, he said.

“It’s a problem,” Pitcher said, “but it’s also part of nature.”

jromeo@durangoherald.com