CUSTER - An epidemic pine beetle attack has the Black Hills looking more like the Red Hills.

The Harney Peak area is dealing with more than four times as many insects as researchers have ever seen before, and crews are heading into the popular hiking trails to help combat the problem.

Resource program manager Gary Brundige said as many as 80 percent to 85 percent of the trees may be gone in the next two to three years.

The infestation has prompted the South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department to close off Trail 9, the most popular trail to Harney Peak.

Little Devil's Tower Trail 4 was shut down last Tuesday, and Lake Trail 9 will close next week. That will allow GF&P crews to thin the forest and remove any trees marked with yellow, a symbol that the tree is a total loss.

"If we can thin the forest down to the lower basil areas, then we can reduce the risk that the pine beetle will infest those stems," Brundige said.

The tiny yet deadly insects are killing more than 90 percent of the ponderosa pines in some areas of the Black Hills.

The mountain pine beetle infestation has increased exponentially over the past eight years. Crews have already cut down about 40,000 trees in the Harney Peak area over the past four years, and the GF&P is concerned that number is on the rise.

GF&P crews are adding some new weapons to their arsenal - helicopters.

Rather than chopping up infected trees, the helicopter will remove them in one piece so that the wood can be salvaged and sold.

"The positive is that we get all the material out of there and we take all of the beetles with it rather than just killing 80 to 85 percent of the brews," Brundige said.

It's expensive - costing nearly $25 a tree - but experts say now is a critical time to prevent further spread of the beetles.

"Nature is going to have to stop the epidemic, but we can do what we can to slow things down," Brundige said.