Pine beetle could kill all Wyo lodgepoles within five years, officials say
JARED MILLER Star-Tribune capital bureau | Posted: Friday, February 15, 2008 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - Mountain pine beetles, the notoriously ruthless forest pests, are poised to wipe out all of Wyoming's mature lodgepole pines within five years, U.S. Forest Service officials said Thursday.
The beetle infestation has hit all of the state's forests and doubled in size since 2006 to around 780,000 acres, said Susan Gray, a specialist in forest health with the agency.
"It's a bad time to be a tree," Gray said during a meeting with reporters at the State Capitol to announce a new aerial survey of beetle infestations across the state.
The survey, conducted by air in 2007, revealed that the infestation in southern Wyoming has increased 138 percent since 2006.
Other areas where beetles are ravaging trees include the counties of Albany, Carbon, Lincoln, Park, Sublette, Teton and Uinta, along with Yellowstone National Park.
Forest officials blame the outbreak on the lack in recent years of extremely cold temperatures that kill beetle larva and keep the species in check.
Other factors are "overstocked" tree stands in the state's forests and the uniform age of trees across the forests, State Forester Bill Crapser said.
For example, trees in the Medicine Bow National Forest in southern Wyoming are largely aged between 80 and 100 years - making them especially susceptible to the tiny bark chewers.
Beetle-killed trees present a number of hazards, including an increased risk of forest fires.
That hazard is exacerbated by the sudden deaths of so many trees, which can result in fires hot enough to sterilize the earth and create unstable soil.
Beetle-chewed timber can knock down power lines, block roads and trails, and kill people.
The Forest Service is already closing campgrounds to protect the public, Gray said.
"As the tree stands start coming apart, trees will start to fall," Crapser said.
Efforts to fight the beetle outbreak have had limited success.
Targeted logging operations in advance of the outbreak have had some impact, said Harv Forsgren, regional forester with the U.S Department of Agriculture.
Federal workers are also employing insecticides to kill beetles in coveted campgrounds, but the cost of around $100 per tree is prohibitive, Forsgren said.
Officials are also holding community meetings to educate people about the problem, and they are working with private landowners to protect trees on private land.
Workers are also completing a statewide assessment to identify "priority areas" that need to be protected.
No matter how much sweat and money the government commits to the problem, officials said, the efforts will have limited success without help from Mother Nature.
For the beetles to die, temperatures must plummet to minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit for several consecutive days in winter, or minus 20 during the spring and fall when mature beetles are still on the move, Gray said.
The other sure-fire way to kill the beetles, and halt the statewide infestation, is to starve them out.
While that may happen within a few years, it will mean the state's forests have been largely stripped of some species of trees.
Reach capital bureau reporter Jared Miller at (307) 632-1244 or at jared.miller@trib.com.