This is truly a piece of Colorado. This is a slab of Ponderosa Pine which has been killed due to the Pine Beetle infestation of the past few years. The mountain pine beetle is a species of bark beetle native to the forests of western North America. The beetle measures about 5 millimeters (picture).
Mountain pine beetles inhabit pines, particularly the Ponderosa Pine. During early stages of an outbreak, attacks are limited largely to trees under stress from injury, poor site conditions, fire damage, overcrowding, root disease or old age. As beetle populations increase, the beetles attack the largest trees in the outbreak area. The trees respond to attack by increasing their resin output in order to discourage or kill the beetles. It isn't the number of pitch-out tubes that kill the pine tree but the beetles carry blue stain fungi which, if established, will block the tree resin response. This is the blue color you see in the picture. I feel this will make a cool top for an electric guitar. This piece will live again in the form of an instrument. Keep a look-out for the progress on this one. Don't know when I'll begin but I will let you know.
