Native forest insects are the greatest forces of change in forest ecosystems of North America. In aggregate, insect disturbances affect an area that is almost 45 times as a great as that affected by the fire, resulting in an economic impact nearly five times as great (Dale et all., 2001). Of these natural agents of ecosystem disturbance and change, the bark beetles are the most obvious in their impact, and of these, the mountain pine beetles (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins has the greatest economic importance in the forest of western North America (Samman and Logan, 2000). The primary reason for this impact is that the mountain pine beetle is one of a handful of bark beetles that are true predators in that they must kill their host to successfully reproduce, and they often do so in truly spectacular numbers.