Feds to give Colorado $30 million to clear trees killed by pine beetle

Colorado will get a $30 million chunk of federal money to make 3 million acres of beetle-killed forest safer.

In December, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said $40 million would be spent to clear dead and weakened trees from Rocky Mountain forests but did not say how the money would be divided.

"It's a huge win for our state in particular," said U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, who announced Monday that 75 percent of the money is coming to Colorado.

He called the pine beetle epidemic one of the region's largest natural disasters.

Trees killed or weakened by pine beetles have become threats because they are likely to fall without warning and can create more dangerous conditions during wildfire seasons.