This interview originally aired on In the Moment on SDPB Radio.
We get a preview of an annual tradition in Custer, South Dakota. The Burning Beetle festival centers around setting an enormous effigy of a pine beetle on fire — but it's also about much more.
Hank Fridell is the Burning Beetle project coordinator, and Dave Thom is a volunteer on the Burning Beetle Committee.
They preview the festival and and discuss how it relates to being a good neighbor in the Black Hills National Forest.
They're also holding a forum for the forest's newcomers ahead of the festival. The Living in Community in Our Forested Environment forum is on Thursday, Jan. 18 at 6:30 p.m. in the Custer County Courthouse Annex.
Learn more about the Burning Beetle festival on Saturday, Jan. 20.