VAIL, Colo. -- Ten thousand. That's how many beetle infested Lodgepole Pine trees have been cut down in the Vail Valley over the last two years.

Vail Fire and Emergency Services is working with Eagle County Wildfire Mitigation and the U.S. Forest Service to lessen the likelihood that the evergreens, which are turning a bright red from beetle infestation, will turn bright orange with fire.

"The bulk of the project is creating fuel breaks," said Eagle County fire mitigation expert Eric Lovgren.

Vail Fire Chief Mark Miller told 7NEWS, "The foresters are telling us that within the next three to five years, about 90 percent of the mature Lodgepole Pine in the area will be gone."

As the trees die, they become fuel for fire.

"There's nothing between those trees and homes," Miller said. "We've got some $20-million homes here and a lot of real estate."

Mitigation crews have cut down numerous trees in West Vail. They spent Tuesday dragging them down the mountain to a point where Colorado residents can drive up, cut them up and haul them away as fire wood.

Some of the trees on forest service land had to be carried out by special helicopter.

"They would come in and lift the trees out and take them to another area that was more accessible where they were loaded onto trucks and taken to Kremmling to be processed into wood pellets," Miller said.

"It's sad to see them all die at once," Lovgren told 7NEWS. "But on the other hand we all get to see this transition."

"The alternative," he added, "is a potentially very large fire ripping through town, destroying homes, potentially life, and causing irreparable damage to our water shed and infrastructure."

Lovgren said the Vail Valley will look very different in the next five to 10 years. He said the Lodgepole Pine will likely be replaced by more Aspen trees.

He said wildfire mitigation crews are actively trying to rejuvenate some of the Aspen stands while they cut down Lodgepole Pine.