Pine-beetle epidemic heading south ( looking for new trees to destroy )

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ^ | August 27, 2006 | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

[george76]

Millions of mountain pine beetles are swarming the Rocky Mountains...looking for new trees to destroy.

The Colorado State Forest Service wants residents to help stop the spread of the devastating pest before the Pike and San Isabel national forests take on a brown cast like those in Summit and Grand counties.

"It's currently at an epidemic level," ...

Dead trees are a sign the forest is unhealthy; they also pose a fire risk. The U.S. Forest Service...

Trees are succumbing by the millions.

"If the beetle is successful in getting underneath the bark of the tree, mama mates and burrows up the stem of the tree, laying eggs every so often," Root said. "Those are going to hatch. Over the next winter and spring, they'll go through the life cycle and be ready to emerge as new adults next July."

As the bugs burrow in, they feed on the tree's "pipes" that feed it water and nutrients from the roots to the crown.

The bugs also carry a fungus called blue stain that clogs the tree's arteries.

"The tree will stay green until next June when it's ready to break dormancy," ...

"When it can't get water from the roots to the noodle, it's going to turn brown all of a sudden."

That's why people looking for infestations should target green trees, not brown ones.

If a tree is healthy enough, it will produce pitch, or sap, that gums up entries and pushes the beetle out.

But some aren't healthy. Signs a tree is infested include globs of tree sap that resemble popcorn, or sawdust in bark crevices and at the tree's base.

The best treatment, he said, is proper forest management, including thinning.

[Argus]

Clear cut.

[neodad]

DDT?

[george76]

" we're not going to see these bugs disappear overnight."

[george76]

Too many trees.

Bug juice might work for one tree after the tree is tented...

Very labor intensive for millions of trees.

[cripplecreek]

My suggestion

[Issaquahking]

The best treatment, he said, is proper forest management, including thinning.


Thinning Greenies...!!! Thought it was too good to be true.



When it comes to Greenies - call them what they are terrorists of a different color.

[rellimpank]

--open pit mining fixes it too--

[rellimpank]

--The best treatment, he said, is proper forest management, including thinning.--

--and it should have started about forty years ago--

[Fiddlstix]

Let the greenies go eat the beetles.....
They're into natural foods anyway aren't they?

[crz]

HOLY BALLS! Thats got to be 11BC chain they are using on there! There aint anything else that'd hold up!

[cripplecreek]

They could have a series of Jackyl concerts.

Lumberjack

I wish they had been around when my high school gym teacher was whining about me listening to "That chainsaw music"

[george76]

LOL.

I fell the need for the speed.

.

[george76]

The Sierra Club is still fighting the foresters.

They still find weak, emotional judges to stop the foresters using science to manage the forests.

[mojo114]

Nature takes care.

[potlatch]

LOL george, how did you ever get me on a 'buggy' thread? I did look up the pine beetle on Google so I learned something.

[rellimpank]

--they got quite a setback when Tommy D'Aschle got caught trying to turn loose South Dakota forests after the fires of 2001--

[george76]

"...how did you ever get me on a 'buggy' thread ?"

Because you are smart and...

8-)

Actually, because you posted on one of my other bug threads.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1671093/posts?page=2#2

[potlatch]

LOL, I remember that now and I'll ping that friend again. Thank you george!

[george76]

Good memory !

That was one of the many double standard things that Tommy did that made me mad.

He got caught wanting SD to have healthy forests, but not for the rest of us.

I set Thune money to help throw that bumb out.