29 million trees dead from bark beetle infestation
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,122
There are a couple of very large pines behind where we live that died this way. They seemed to have turned brown overnight.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/bark-beetles-California-dead-trees-fire-risk-7390544.php
A determined beetle the size of a rice grain is drilling into California's trees, turning the lush forest blanketing the Golden State into a sea of dead wood that's highly flammable.
The most recent data from 2015 estimates bark beetles have killed over 29 million trees, and Cal Fire Education Officer Amy Head said that number is now higher, increasing the fire risk even more.
"They're this itty bitty bug that can do an enormous amount of damage," Head said. "This bug is literally changing the face of our state."
Head is encouraging homeowners who live in urban interface areas to clear dead trees from their yards in preparation for the fire season.
Related Stories
The drought is to blame for the bark beetle infestation. A healthy tree can defend itself from a beetle attack by producing pitch and pushing the bugs out of their holes, but a water-starved one loses the battle. The beetles bore under the bark, creating a gallery in the wood where they lay their eggs. When the larvae hatch, they eat the cambium layer that carries the trees' nutrients and inject a fungus that thwarts sap production.
"Bark beetles are always there," Head explained. "They're part of the environment in California, but because of the consecutive years of drought, the infestation has reached epidemic levels. We're going into a fifth year of drought and we didn't quite get enough rain fall this winter. The bark beetles are multiplying. They're thriving on these stressed and dying trees."
More at link.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/bark-beetles-California-dead-trees-fire-risk-7390544.php
A determined beetle the size of a rice grain is drilling into California's trees, turning the lush forest blanketing the Golden State into a sea of dead wood that's highly flammable.
The most recent data from 2015 estimates bark beetles have killed over 29 million trees, and Cal Fire Education Officer Amy Head said that number is now higher, increasing the fire risk even more.
"They're this itty bitty bug that can do an enormous amount of damage," Head said. "This bug is literally changing the face of our state."
Head is encouraging homeowners who live in urban interface areas to clear dead trees from their yards in preparation for the fire season.
Related Stories
The drought is to blame for the bark beetle infestation. A healthy tree can defend itself from a beetle attack by producing pitch and pushing the bugs out of their holes, but a water-starved one loses the battle. The beetles bore under the bark, creating a gallery in the wood where they lay their eggs. When the larvae hatch, they eat the cambium layer that carries the trees' nutrients and inject a fungus that thwarts sap production.
"Bark beetles are always there," Head explained. "They're part of the environment in California, but because of the consecutive years of drought, the infestation has reached epidemic levels. We're going into a fifth year of drought and we didn't quite get enough rain fall this winter. The bark beetles are multiplying. They're thriving on these stressed and dying trees."
More at link.
"It's a sad and beautiful world"
-Roberto Benigni
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Comments
Many of BC's forests have been horribly devastated by the pine beetle over the last 15 years or so - like HUGE devastation - and it is because the winters are no longer cold enough, even up north, to keep them from infesting.
It is terribly depressing to drive around many areas of the province now. There are places that were so incredibly beautiful that are just hideous now because it's all just dead, brown pine trees, as far as the eye can see sometimes. It's even more disturbing when you see it from the air. It's also obviously been a real hit to the economy.
I suppose on the upside, the long invasion is finally slowing down because all the trees are dead and these little fuckers need live trees to thrive. Once they've killed a tree they move on to the next living one.
iowa has the japanese beetle or emerald ash borer that eats ash trees.
good luck california & other lands
here they're doing it & eating raspberry leaves
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
Those that can be trusted can change their mind.
Mandated to?
Slow down, you can't do that to people.
Will never work.
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/how_science_can_help_to_halt_the_western_bark_beetle_plague/2944/
http://www.cbs8.com/story/31017248/new-solution-to-prevent-bark-beetles-from-killing-pines-at-torrey-pines
Those that can be trusted can change their mind.