‘Burn, beetle, burn’: South Dakota town torches effigy in spectacular tradition

CUSTER, S.D. — Black clouds of carbon hang in the air, illuminated by the glow of dozens of orange torches. The musty scent of kerosene perfumes the crowd dodging drips of fuel.

Hundreds of voices alternate laughter and chatter with the chanting of “burn, beetle, burn,” snaking through the streets of Custer like a lava flow. Children dart between rows of marchers. Attendees capture the brilliant sight on cell phones. The occasional pitchfork glints in the soft light.

Atop a hill, the wooden silhouette of a beetle is visible against the meager lingering light of day. The effigy, nestled on a bed of Christmas greenery, slowly begins to glow.

Crackles. Cheers. And then its fate is sealed — flames lick at the base. The pungent scent of pine stings cold noses. As torches land amongst the kindling, sparks flutter towards the night sky. More cheers and chanting. The beetle quickly succumbs to the fire, and the resulting heat pushes crowds further into the shrinking darkness.

But it isn’t dark for long. The finale is a fireworks show against the blackened lines of pine trees.

This spectacle would be bewildering to anyone unfamiliar, but for locals, it’s a trademark moment every January in the Black Hills.

Saturday was the 11th annual Burning Beetle event in Custer, a cathartic charge against the once-epidemic mountain pine beetle and a community event for all ages. Custer firefighters prepared the torches, while at the front, tall cartoon-faced puppets fall in line behind a drumline and cross-country runners.

Carrying a torch in each hand, Tessah Behlings walked next to her husband, Russell, daughter Ellen perched on his shoulders. Russell is from South Dakota, but they’re all first-time burners, having recently relocated back to the area from Wisconsin.

The Behlings were among the steady stream of glowing orange torches migrating from Custer High School to Pageant Hill Saturday evening.

“It’s kind of weird, but it’s very impressive,” she said, grinning. “I didn’t realize there was going to be that many people, I guess, doing the torch walk. So yeah, that was kind of impressive.”

They’ll definitely be back next year, Tessah added.

Burning Beetle does more than just raise awareness of the impact of the mountain pine beetle, it also supports Custer-area arts and features a pub crawl and variety show.

Pine plight

Mountain pine beetles, black or rusty brown and about the size of a grain of rice, are native to the Black Hills. They dig through pine bark, leaving behind a blue-stain fungus and larvae that eat away at the trees and cause them to fade generally within a year. In late June or July, adults fly from infested trees in search of new hosts.

The U.S. Forest Service called the mountain pine beetle the “most aggressive, persistent and destructive bark beetle in the western United States and Canada.” The South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources said outbreaks of mountain pine beetles occur roughly every 10 years, during which time the beetles move from colonizing only weakened trees to attacking healthy ones as well. The outbreaks generally last another decade, before the cycle begins again.

From 1996 to 2016, the beetles wreaked havoc on the Black Hills National Forest, affecting nearly 450,000 acres. The first recorded outbreak was in the 1890s, killing an estimated 10 million trees. SD DANR said five outbreaks have occurred since, although none as devastating. An early 1970s outbreak resulted in the loss of more than 440,000 trees.

In South Dakota, the most common victim is the ponderosa pine. Trees more common in western states, like the Lodgepole, Sugar and Western White Pine, are also susceptible to mountain pine beetle destruction. The Forest Service utilized categorical exclusions in the 2014 and 2018 farm bills to try and proactively tackle the epidemic through thinning and controlled burns.