Fall colors on the mountain sides above Vail, Colorado. The dead trees seen
in the mix are pines that have fallen prey to a pine beetle infestation. The
beetles bore underneath the bark of the pines and release a fungus that kills
the trees. In recent years winter temperatures have not dropped low enough to
kill the pine beetle larvae and the insects have moved from a two-year reproduction
cycle to a one-year cycle. The result has been devastating for Colorado
pine forests. NOTE: This is a three-exposure high dynamic range (HDR)
image using a constant aperture with a tripod-mounted camera.