The number of years in which the southern pine beetle has reached outbreak status since 1960.
From The Associated Press
November 30, 2002
KNOXVILLE — The Southern pine beetle has destroyed millions of dollars worth of timber in East Tennessee, northern Georgia, South Carolina, western North Carolina and northeastern Alabama during the past four years. Although the beetle epidemic that began in 1998 has slowed considerably, East Tennessee hasn’t been spared this year.
Entomology
.. For the complete rundown on this forest pest, visit the University of Kentucky’s entomology page.
More than 400,000 acres of pine trees have been destroyed in Tennessee during the epidemic, and state forestry officials say the beetle remains active in the higher elevations from Cocke County south to Polk County. Other regions of the state still having beetle problems include the southern Cumberland Plateau and the southeastern part of Middle Tennessee in and around Coffee, Grundy and Franklin counties. Bruce Kauffman, Tennessee Department of Agriculture forest health specialist, said these areas have the same number of infestations as last year but that the number of dead trees is down. "We are in a downward turn, but it’s not over yet," Kauffman said. "I suspect we’ll see beetle activity picking up again this spring, but in very localized areas." The insect, which is native to the United States, tends to spread about every 10 years as part of its natural reproduction cycle. This outbreak has been severe because of mild winters, which have allowed the beetle to spread unabated, and dry weather, which has stressed many pine trees and made them vulnerable to attack. The epidemic peaked across much of Tennessee in 2000, state foresters say. With no effective chemical controls, the only option for landowners affected by the beetle was to attempt to salvage the wood. The bug, about half as long as a grain of rice, forced landowners to dump diseased trees last summer on an already glutted pulpwood market. As well as killing the trees, the beetles introduce a fungus known as blue stain that makes the trees unsuitable for lumber. Kauffman said elevations above 1,500 feet from Cocke County to Polk County could see minor pine beetle spreading this winter if temperatures hover near the 50-degree mark. He said the beetle probably would not spread this summer as it has the past few years. A lack of food for the pine beetle and natural predators are helping to end the epidemic, forestry officials say. On the upper Cumberland Plateau, the beetle has killed 50% of the pine trees. "They’ve literally eaten themselves out of house and home," Kauffman said.
WHITLEY CITY, Ky. — When the last red-cockaded woodpecker is hauled out of Kentucky later this month, environmentalists will have lost a poster child in the fight against logging in the Daniel Boone National Forest. Biologists decided to move the birds to healthy forests after Southern pine beetles wiped out about 90 percent of pines in the forest, leaving Kentucky’s 15 red-cockaded woodpeckers practically homeless. Like the spotted owl in the Pacific Northwest, the woodpeckers only nest in live pines. Eight woodpeckers have been captured and taken to Arkansas; the others are expected to be removed to South Carolina. Environmental groups have said the endangered woodpecker and the endangered Indiana bat are victims of the harvest of trees used by the two animals. Jim Bensman, forest watch coordinator for the environmental group Heartwood, said the woodpecker was used to halt logging temporarily in 1994, but the Indiana bat has been the key to legal success. The woodpeckers inhabited only a small portion of the forest, while the bats are dispersed throughout. Loggers, who have watched beetle-weakened trees die and fall to the forest floor, said some trees could have been cut down, perhaps halting the spread of the beetles, the destruction of the pines and the removal of the woodpeckers. Few loggers are fans of the woodpeckers and bats. “They’ve about starved us to death,” said Roscoe Stephens, a McCreary County logger. Bensman said the beetle infestation wouldn’t have been so destructive if the Forest Service hadn’t allowed logging in the first place. “The Forest Service cares only about cutting down the forest,” he said. “That was the real de-mise of the red-cockaded woodpecker. The beetles don’t attack healthy forests.”
This story was written by Roger Alford of The Associated Press
