By AUBREY WEIBER
(IDAHO FALLS) POST REGISTER August 11, 2014
The most widespread tree in North America is disappearing. East Idaho's aspen community, once estimated to cover 40 percent of the region's forested areas, has declined by an estimated 60 percent in the past 100 years, while Arizona has seen a 90 percent decline during that time, said Aren Eddingsaas, chairman of the science and technology committee for the Eastern Idaho Aspen Working Group and a wildlife biologist for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe.
Terry Thomas, Idaho Department of Fish and Game regional habitat manager, said East Idaho is losing 5,000 acres of aspen each year.
In order to combat that loss, Fish and Game, the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Idaho Department of Lands, Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation and Idaho State Department of Agriculture banded together in 2006 to form the Eastern Idaho Aspen Working Group. The group's mission is to preserve the species.
