Millions of viewers nationwide, thousands right here in South Dakota, have enjoyed the July 3 Mount Rushmore fireworks. This year, don't make any plans.

Thanks to damage inflicted by the mountain pine beetle, the National Park Service canceled the Independence Day fireworks display last week. Concerns over the heightened fire danger surrounding the monument prompted the move.

While we share the disappointment felt by many who have enjoyed the fireworks over the years, it was a smart move by the park service.

The fireworks are a major event for South Dakota - too many people and businesses make plans around the fireworks to wait until the last minute to make a change.

The South Dakota Department of Tourism will lose the free advertising from the fireworks display. In the past, 12 million people were reached through broadcasts and print accounts of the fireworks. Not bad at all - the department has a done a good job of promoting South Dakota.

Keystone and other communities in the hills may be hit the hardest. Those small communities plan events around the fireworks, fill hotel rooms and enjoy bustling weekend traffic as travelers pour in to the hills for the display.

By announcing the cancelation in January, however, the park service has gotten well ahead of the problems that could arise from making the decision later in the spring.

While we're disappointed the display has been canceled, the larger disappointment is the state of the national forest.

The damage inflicted by the pine beetle - that persistent pest that is killing the forest trees and making wildfires a real potential - is all too real and all too widespread.

The swath of destruction is nearing Mount Rushmore, but the mountain pine beetle has already destroyed much of the Black Elk Wilderness.

Without action, officials say the pine beetle could kill most of the pine trees in the 1,200-acre forest that surrounds Mount Rushmore.

We hope the cancelation of the fireworks serves as (another) wakeup call for officials to aggressively attack this problem. The debate over the effectiveness and timeliness of the federal response to the pine beetle will continue. While we debate, the pine beetle's advance continues as well.

The cancelation of the fireworks display speaks to a much larger problem - a disastrous infestation of pine beetles. Let's hope the forest service handles that challenge as well as it has handled canceling the fireworks display.