South Dakota's Burning Beetle Festival Highlights Impact of Mountain Pine Beetle

The annual event in Custer, South Dakota, uses a fiery spectacle to raise awareness of the destructive beetle that has affected over 700 square miles of forest land.

Hundreds of people in Custer, South Dakota, set fire to a giant wooden beetle effigy as part of the 11th annual Burning Beetle festival.
The event aims to raise awareness of the destructive impact of the mountain pine beetle on forest land in the Black Hills.
Firefighters prepared and lit the torches for residents to carry in a march to the pyre, warning participants not to throw the torches.
The event also includes a talent show and 'bug crawl', supporting the local arts.
The mountain pine beetle, described by the U.S. Forest Service as 'the most aggressive, persistent, and destructive bark beetle in the western United States and Canada', has caused several outbreaks in the Black Hills since the 1890s, the most recent being from 1996-2016, affecting 703 square miles.