Spruce beetles’ expansion into Denali National Park poses questions about forest changes

Yereth Rosen

SCIENCE

Alaska Beacon

Along with the tourist crowds that are flocking to Denali National Park and Preserve is another arrival: Masses of beetles have burrowed into the park’s spruce trees and begun killing them off.

The aggressive infestation that took hold in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough north of Anchorage in 2016 has now spread north, covering hillsides in the communities outside the park with rustred dead trees and reaching into park boundaries.

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