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Tiny beetles threaten spruce trees and homes in Alaska

a person cuts down a tree
Crews cut down beetle-killed spruce trees in Anchorage in 2021. (Alaska Public Media)

Take a flight over the Mat-Su valley, the Anchorage Bowl, or the Kenai Peninsula and you may notice areas that were once evergreen, but have now turned a rusty reddish brown. All of those trees are fuel for wildfires and a small beetle has killed many of them. As Alaska Public Media’s Emily Schwing reports, it’s not only happening in remote parts of the state. Thousands of urban trees are also coming down because of the spruce beetle.