Colorado Senator Mark Udall is calling on homebuilders to use beetle-killed trees from Colorado forests to build homes 鈥� a move he says will boost forest health as well as the economy.

At an event Wednesday with Denver-based New Town Builders, Udall touted the benefits of using structurally sound lumber from beetle-killed trees in home construction. An official with New Town told the Denver Post that wood the company buys is tested by engineers for structural integrity, and graded like any other form of lumber.

Udall notes that the economic downturn has made it more difficult to find funding to remove dead and dying trees.  But he says finding a use for timber that would otherwise go to waste will help mountain economies -- creating jobs for logging and sawmill operations that have been struggling in the state.

鈥淗e believes that if homebuilders and other companies in Colorado would use more of the beetle-killed trees, that we could those sawmills open, help them flourish, and create jobs in the process,鈥� says Udall spokeswoman Tara Trujillo.

A sawmill in the western Colorado town of Montrose is partnering with a Denver builder to provide local wood products for homebuilding. More than 4 million acres of Rocky Mountain forests have been impacted by the mountain pine beetle.