homeWelcome, sign in or click here to subscribe.login
     


 

 

Environment


Subscriber content preview

May 8, 2012

Tribe starts logging to fight beetles

  • The Native Americans are hoping to use pine beetle-infected trees to build wooden homes on their South Dakota reservation.
    • By VERONICA ZARAGOVIA
    Associated Press

    SPEARFISH CANYON, S.D. — Joe Shark's Native American heritage taught him to be leery of the timber industry on the South Dakota reservation where he grows apples and gooseberries, but a threat from an enemy no larger than a fingernail impelled him to grab a saw and join the loggers.

    For more than two decades, tiny pine beetles have been a colossal pain for two competing camps in the forests of the Black Hills region — the American Indians seeking to preserve the trees and the timber workers who are chopping down thousands for profit. The infiltration of the bug has left countless trees dead, severely threatening both missions.


     
    . . .


    To read this story in full login or purchase a subscription.



    
    Email or user name:
    Password:
     
    Forgot password? Click here.