DENVER — Lodgepole pines grow thick in mountain foothill forests west of Denver. Government-backed loggers cut down thousands. This left a hole across several acres of the popular Flying J Ranch Park that, close up, looks to visitors more like mowing than thinning.
“It is devastating, really sad,” said Sandra Griffith, 49, a Conifer resident who runs on park trails and, after the cutting, noticed a surge of chipmunks at her nearby home.
“Please don’t remove this forest. Take a longer view. If you remove trees, global warming will increase. What damage is the government doing to the planet by mowing down all these trees?”
