Fire-damaged forest near Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado, USA

© Peter Essick/Aurora Photos

Fire-damaged forest near Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado, USA

Wolf Creek Pass is a high-mountain route in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado that’s notoriously difficult to navigate in winter, with steep drops in elevation as the road descends from the peak. While these trees were damaged by wildfire – always a threat here in the Rockies – trees in the surrounding forest have been ravaged by a different menace – the spruce beetle. The tiny but deadly beetles have infested up to 90 per cent of spruce trees in Colorado’s high elevations, including around Wolf Creek Pass, laying waste to large swathes of the forest.