I think about this every time we camp. All it's going to take is one lightning strike or cigarret butt to turn the high country into a giant fire. The pine beetle is natural, but the Forest Service missed the opportunity to do something about it when it first started manifesting itself. I read somewhere that the estimate is something like 98% of the pine trees are dead in Summit Country and the Vail Valley. We used to camp a lot at Heaton Bay and Prospector around Lake Dillon. Now Heaton Bay is almost desert-like since the Forest Service cut down all the trees and Prospector is next.