The wide spread epidemic that the Mountain Pine Beetle is causing in our beloved Rocky Mountains is an issue that definitely hits close to home for ZEAL. By laying their eggs under the bark of pine trees, the pine beetles are beginning to destroy our forests at a rapid rate. When releasing their eggs, they also release a blue stain fungus that inhibits the water and nutrients from moving throughout the tree which, in turn, basically chokes the tree and causes it to die. In the past, we have had winter temperatures dip low enough (-40°F) to kill off the beetles for the season and limit the number of trees that they attack.

Trees in Colorado killed by Pine Beetles via LandReport.com

When moving our ZEAL HQ to our new location, we chose to use Beetle Kill Pine throughout the office. In doing so, we are supporting the Colorado timber industry, ensuring the wood from these trees doesn’t go to waste and are using wood from trees that are already dead rather than cutting down live trees for aesthetic purposes. The bonus is that the blue stain fungus makes the wood beautiful! We hope to do more to help with this issue, but in the mean time we’re starting our snow dances early in hopes of a solid cold and SNOWY winter!

Beetle Kill Pine slat wall in the ZEAL HQ