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Steamboat Springs — Who knew pop-up ads were good for anything but frustration and computer viruses?

Tristan Frolich felt the same way until one caught his eye earlier this year and ultimately led him to the verge of winning a $20,000 grant for a tree-planting project in Steamboat Springs.

The ad was for SunChips, which has created completely compostable packing for its whole-grain chips. Frolich, a home energy rater in Steamboat, was intrigued. He followed the ad and ultimately learned about the Green Effect contest, a collaboration of SunChips and National Geographic. The contest seeks the best ideas for projects that would use a $20,000 grant to make a positive impact on the environment.

Frolich's plan is to combat the mountain pine beetle epidemic decimating Routt County's forests by leveraging the prize money to buy 20,000 trees for a communitywide tree planting. Frolich's proposed project was chosen as one of 10 finalists in the contest. Five of the 10 projects will be awarded the grant. Judges will choose four, and online voters will pick the fifth; Frolich's project currently is ranked second in online voting, which is open through July 20 at http://greeneffect.nationalgeographic.com/.

"I thought this was a good way to get some publicity to a problem we have," Frolich said, adding that he has received a large amount of feedback about the project from complete strangers. "I just thought it was a good idea, and it seems like a lot of people agree, which is fantastic."

Of the 1.16 million acres affected by the mountain pine beetle across the state, 245,000 of them are in Routt County, according to the aerial research conducted in 2008 by the U.S. and Colorado State forest services.

Although there are 1.16 million affected acres still existing in Colorado, the 2008 aerial survey results bring the cumulative number of acres in Colorado affected by the current mountain pine beetle epidemic to 1.9 million.

"The big thing for me is the global warming effect," said Frolich, who noted that not only do dead trees lose their ability to soak up carbon dioxide, but they also release it and other damaging gases as they decompose. "We're kind of jumpstarting the process of the forest replenishing itself."

Frolich said he toyed with another project idea more closely related to his business, but he ultimately settled on planting trees because he thinks it is more visible and more educational. He described tree planting as a multi-generational activity not only because people of all ages can participate, but also because the trees will stick around for generations to come.

"People take an ownership of the forest," Frolich said, "which makes them much more likely to protect it."