I’m working through some spring cleaning of the office.  While doing so, I found this aerial photograph of Monarch and Mirkwood Basin taken in 2005.  The spruce beetles moved into the area around 2010 and decimated the mature stands of spruce trees over the next few years.  The Monarch Pass Vegetation Management project was implemented in 2018 and thinning work began that summer to remove dead and dying trees.  The ski area and the adjacent forest has been transformed since that time.  It sure looks a lot different now!