RAPID CITY, S.D. -- In what's become an annual winter tradition, hundreds of people carrying torches set fire to a giant wooden beetle effigy in Custer, South Dakota, to raise awareness of the destructive impact of the mountain pine beetle on forest land in the Black Hills.
Custer firefighters prepared and lighted the torches for residents to carry in a march to the pyre Saturday night in the 11th Burning Beetle fest, the Rapid City Journal reported.
People set the tall beetle effigy on fire amid drum beats and chants of “Burn, beetle, burn." Firefighters kept watch, warning participants not to throw the torches, even as some people launched the burning sticks into pine trees piled at the base of the beetle.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/burn...-106551807
let's raise our awareness people. beetles kill thousands of trees out west. recent dry climate makes it harder on the trees.
Custer firefighters prepared and lighted the torches for residents to carry in a march to the pyre Saturday night in the 11th Burning Beetle fest, the Rapid City Journal reported.
People set the tall beetle effigy on fire amid drum beats and chants of “Burn, beetle, burn." Firefighters kept watch, warning participants not to throw the torches, even as some people launched the burning sticks into pine trees piled at the base of the beetle.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/burn...-106551807
let's raise our awareness people. beetles kill thousands of trees out west. recent dry climate makes it harder on the trees.
once known as El Goobero