Through the Seal of Climate Literacy, One Student in Rural Silverton, Colorado is Taking Action on Pine Beetle Kill

With high school graduation on the horizon, students across Colorado are working hard on hands-on learning projects connected to local climate issues that will help them graduate with the Seal of Climate Literacy Diploma Endorsement. 

In order to earn the Seal of Climate Literacy Diploma Endorsement, students in Colorado must meet minimum high school graduation requirements, successfully complete a science course as well as a second course that contains climate literacy principles, and engage in a hands-on learning experience that addresses climate change issues in their local community. 

The Seal is then conferred by the student’s Local Education Provider, often a district, charter network, or school. This accolade goes onto a student’s diploma and transcript – sending a clear signal to colleges and careers that they are equipped with essential climate literacy skills to succeed in a variety of opportunities and pathways. Beyond just the preparation for college and career, the Seal of Climate Literacy is also a powerful tool to recognize students for their leadership and dedication to addressing climate challenges in their own communities. It’s a way to both recognize and prepare students for a future impacted by climate change.

For many students pursuing the Seal of Climate Literacy, their projects aren’t just another box to check before walking across the stage – they are an opportunity to deepen their understanding of how climate change is impacting their community and take action. For these students, climate change is an ongoing reality that is already impacting their lives today and their futures. An increasing number of students want to earn the Seal of Climate Literacy because it’s a chance to not only learn about climate change, but also make a difference – something that high schoolers are asking for as part of their high school education.

Let’s take a trip to the remote town of Silverton, Colorado, in the southwest region of the state, surrounded by the picturesque San Juan Mountains. In Silverton, a town with a population of just over 700 people that is only accessible via the infamous – and sometimes impassable – Highway 550, students are keenly aware of the challenges climate change is already posing to their community.

One of the climate challenges posed to Silverton – and across the state – is pine beetle kill. Silverton is situated at an elevation of 9,300 feet within the San Juan National Forest, which spans about 1.8 million acres in southwestern Colorado, featuring ponderosa and lodgepole pine, Engelmann spruce, and aspen forests. These populations of trees are particularly vulnerable to pine beetles, which kill pine trees by boring under the bark to lay eggs, disrupting nutrient flow, and introducing blue stain fungus. While pine beetles are native to North American forests, massive outbreaks can kill large populations of pine trees, particularly during warmer winters and drought. Killing millions of trees significantly raises wildfire risks, increases hazards from falling timber, and damages forest ecosystems. 

Infested trees will die and dry out, creating highly flammable fuel for wildfires to rapidly spread. Dead standing timber creates hazardous conditions for animals and people, and can damage power lines, buildings, and roads. While pine beetles are always present, warmer temperatures facilitate epidemic outbreaks that overwhelm even healthy trees. And if that’s not bad enough, this problem is exacerbated by climate change, as warmer, shorter, drier winters allow more beetles to survive, while ongoing drought weakens trees, making them less able to defend against beetle infestations. 

Across the state of Colorado, this winter has been incredibly warm, short, and dry – in fact, Colorado is one of nine states that experienced their warmest winter on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In the mountains, statewide snowpack remains at its lowest levels in over four decades, and some northeastern parts of the state experienced their driest winters on record.

Silverton’s local economy largely depends on tourism, which is greatly impacted by climate change. Leaders across the town are grappling with how to respond to declining tourism driven by declining snowpack and hot, dry temperatures year round. This winter, the local ski area, Kendall Mountain, was only open for a handful of days. Hotels and restaurants around town are seeing less business as a result of decreases in tourism. Town leaders and business owners are wrestling with not just how to survive, but also how to respond. According to a longtime Silverton resident, Gary Davis, “The winter economy has changed. The changing climate – that scares everybody.”

The young people in Silverton are also quite concerned about climate change, how it’s impacting their communities now, and how it could impact their communities in the future. Many young people in Silverton are turning fear into action by pursuing the Seal of Climate Literacy. Liam Joyce, a student in Megan Davenport’s high school science class at Silverton School and member of the school’s sustainability council, wanted to learn more than just facts about climate change, but how to take action, especially in regard to the pine beetle issue. Liam learned about a possible solution to drive pine beetles away from the trees: pheromone patches. Pheromone patches, often containing synthetic verbenone, protect trees by mimicking the anti-aggregation pheromones that beetles produce to signal that a tree is already overcrowded. This sends a “no vacancy” message to arriving beetles, causing them to bypass the treated tree and seek a different host, therefore reducing successful attacks at scale. 

Liam knew of a solution to this problem – and wanted to implement it within his own community. Utilizing grant funding awarded to the school district by Lyra to help them implement the Seal of Climate Literacy, the school was able to purchase pheromone patches from the U.S. Forest Service. Now, Liam is working with a U.S. Forest Service representative to place the patches in strategic locations in his community. Liam is starting this project as a sophomore, and the project will qualify him for the Seal of Climate Literacy when he graduates in 2028. 

The pheromone patches offer a possible solution to pine beetle kill, but the root cause is warmer, drier conditions caused by climate change. According to Samuel Ramsey, an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the BioFrontiers Institute at CU Boulder, “As the climate continues to warm, these sorts of ecological issues [pine beetle kill] are going to happen more often. So we need to make sure that instead of only treating the symptoms of climate change, we are reducing the amount of carbon that is going into the atmosphere.” 

In Colorado, the pine beetle problem is so severe that state leadership had to take executive action. In December 2025, Governor Polis launched a new task force designed to protect Colorado forests and communities from the impact the mountain pine beetle will have, particularly on Colorado’s Front Range ponderosa forests, over the next decade.

Anyone who has spent time in Colorado has likely noticed the changes in the forests. Even just driving along I-70, the most commonly traveled road in the state, travelers are bound to notice sprawling dead pine trees. In 2017, the Colorado State Forest Service estimated that there were more than 834 million dead standing trees in Colorado, a 30% increase from the last report in 2010, representing about 1 in 14 trees. It’s no secret that the effects of climate change have already taken hold, and will likely worsen unless immediate action is taken. The Seal of Climate Literacy helps students see themselves as part of the solution, through empowering them to take action and equipping them with the knowledge and leadership skills to advocate for change.

Liam was motivated to pursue this project because he knows that more pine beetles mean more dead trees, and more dead trees fuel wildfires, especially in years such as this one where temperatures have been above average and snowpack has been below average. 

Because of students like Liam, the future is much brighter and more resilient. Through the Seal, students are finding ways to take action on climate issues in their local community, as well as being better prepared for future pathways in college or career. Educating students and encouraging them to act could be key to tackling problems long researched by scientists such as pine beetle kill.

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References

Bowman, J. (2026, March 23). Thin snow strains Silverton businesses as local leaders look to adapt – The Durango Herald. Durango Herald. https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/thin-snow-strains-silverton-businesses-as-local-leaders-look-to-adapt/

Colorado State Forest Service. (2017, February 15). 800 Million Standing Dead Trees in Colorado – Colorado State Forest Service. Colorado State Forest Service. https://csfs.colostate.edu/2017/02/15/800-million-standing-dead-trees-colorado/

CU Boulder. (2026, January 28). The pine beetles are back. Here’s why—and what you can do about it. CU Boulder Today. https://www.colorado.edu/today/2026/01/28/pine-beetles-are-back-heres-why-and-what-you-can-do-about-it

Governor Polis Shares Information on Pine Beetle Outbreak, Announces New Task Force to Help Communities, Forests, and Water Resources | Department of Natural Resources. (2025, December 15). https://dnr.colorado.gov/colorado-announces-pine-beetle-outbreak-task-force

Romeo, J. (2021, February 19). Beetle kill marches west across San Juan Mountains – The Durango Herald. Durango Herald. https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/beetle-kill-marches-west-across-san-juan-mountains/

United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Northern and Intermountain Regions. (n.d.). Using Verbenone to Protect Trees from Mountain Pine Beetle. In the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Northern and Intermountain Regions. https://dnrc.mt.gov/_docs/forestry/Forestry_Assistance/Forest_Pests/More-specifics-on-verbenone1.pdf

Woodruff, C. (2026, March 11). Colorado’s historic winter warmth shatters previous temperature records | Colorado Newsline. Colorado Newsline. https://coloradonewsline.com/briefs/colorado-warmth-shatters-records/