mountain pine beetle – dendroctronus ponderosae

www.spraylakesawmills.com

Mountain Pine Beetle – Dendroctronus ponderosae

Presentation by:

Spray Lake Sawmills

Woodlands


Mountain Pine Beetle - Biology

• Small, cylindrical, dark coloured, size of grain of rice

• 1 year life cycle (generally)

• Mid summer - Adult females fly & attack new trees by boring through the bark into the sapwood


Mountain Pine Beetle – Biology continued

• Females construct vertical galleries in the phloem

• Males join them, mate, females deposit eggs

• Eggs hatch into larvae & feed outward from the vertical galleries


Mountain Pine Beetle – Biology continued

• Over winter under bark as larvae

• Spring – transform into pupae

• Summer – emerge as adults, fly and attack new trees


Mountain Pine Beetle - Range

• Southern Rocky Mountains & west of the continental divide

• Outbreak in Crowsnest Pass area about 25 years ago

• Not generally indigenous to Alberta


Mountain Pine Beetle – Current Situation

• Several years of dry summers and mild winters

• 50 years of fire suppression

• Result = vast tracks of optimal age & size of lodgepole pine with a climate favourable for beetle expansion


Mountain Pine Beetle – The Target

• The MPB can thrive on all pine species

• Alberta’s forests are 42% pine and 67% locally

• At present, primary host is Lodgepole Pine

• It can also do well in Whitebark Pine and Jack Pine

• This will open the door for expansion across Canada’s Boreal Forest


Mountain Pine Beetle – Natural Controls

Endemic Populations

• Woodpeckers, viruses, climate , fire and other natural disturbances

Epidemic Populations

• Cold winter weather with –30 to –40 dgrees


Mountain Pine Beetle – Trees Natural Defense

• Resin production will “pitch” the beetle from the tree

• Healthy young trees will have a stronger chance of fighting off the beetle

• Older, weakened or stressed trees are more vulnerable


Mountain Pine Beetle – How the Tree is Killed

• The shear number of beetles building galleries will effectively girdle the tree

• In addition, the beetle introduces a blue stain fungus into the tree which blocks the transport of water and nutrients


Mountain Pine Beetle – Tools n’ Tactics

• Tools & tactics will vary with landbase designations and organizational mandates & objectives

• They will typically range from single tree treatments through to prescribed burns and harvesting


Mountain Pine Beetle – Mgmt Guidance Documents

• MPB Action Plan for Alberta

• Interpretive Bulletin for Planning Response Operations

• Ground Rules Addendum• Directive for Transport &

Storage of Affected Logs


Mountain Pine Beetle – Action Plan for Alberta

• Goal – mitigate effects of MPB on social, environmental & economic values of our forests

• Defines 3 mgmt strategies– Control strategy

– Prevention Strategy

– Salvage Strategy


Mountain Pine Beetle – Action Plan Control Strategy

• Aerial and ground surveys to locate infested trees

• Response Level I – Single Tree Treatment

• Response Level II – Stand Level Treatment


Mountain Pine Beetle – Action Plan Prevention (pine) Strategy

• Reduce spread and outbreak potential by reducing the area of susceptible stands– Model stand

susceptibility– Reduce susceptible

stands to 25% in 20 yrs


Mountain Pine Beetle – Action Plan Salvage Strategy

• Kicks in where/when the MPB infestation is beyond control

• The focus is on recovering dead and dying trees before the fibre is lost


Mountain Pine Beetle – Interpretive Bulletin

• Outlines criteria and protocols for planning harvest operations in response to the MPB

• Provides a direct, detailed, linkage to the Action Plan


Mountain Pine Beetle – Ground Rules Addendum

• Contains an outline of modified provincial ground rules to enable quick implementation of MPB operations

• Provides “ground level” operational direction/guidance for conducting harvest activity


Mountain Pine Beetle – Directive for Log Management

• This is an SRD Directive aimed at reducing the risk-of-spread when using harvesting as a control treatment

• Includes:– Log transport– Log storage– Manufacturing/residue

management


Mountain Pine Beetle – Environmental Impacts

• Domino effect impacting a chain of resource values– Water table– Surface run-off / H2O

quality– Fisheries– Veg. composition– Wildlife habitat values– Wildfire susceptibility– etc


Mountain Pine Beetle – Social / Economic Impacts

• Cascading impacts effecting a range of social and economic values– Aesthetic / recreation values– Range / forage values– Access / class of roads– Wood supply for forest

industry– Employment– Municipal tax base


Mountain Pine Beetle – Forest Industry Economic Realities

• Planning & chasing beetle affected wood is expensive

• Lower grades, recoveries and product values are expected

• Lumber markets are the lowest in 20 years

• Operating / Manufacturing costs have sky rocketed


Mountain Pine Beetle – Economic Realities continued

• There are announcements of mill closures almost weekly

• Off-loading the costs to fight the MPB onto the industry is not an option

• This is a societal issue not just a forest industry issue


Mountain Pine Beetle – What Can You Do?

• While the forest industry is the provinces biggest “tool” to help battle the beetle everyone has a part to play

• Patience & understanding will be required

• Help us be effective– Streamline admin

processes and approvals– Public education


Mountain Pine Beetle – Local Initiatives

• DFMP – beetle susceptibility modeling and harvest re-sequencing

• Stakeholder Communication

• Prevention (pine) strategy plans for:– Jumping Pound– East & West Ghost


Mountain Pine Beetle – Wake-up Statistics

• Triple last years numbers for beetle infested trees in the Southern Rockies despite SRD’s efforts with Level I Control Strategies

• A minimum 98% winter-kill is required to start reducing the population


Mountain Pine Beetle – More Information

• www.srd.gov.ab.ca/forests/health/mpb.html

• www.pc.gc.ca/dpp-mpb• www.pfc.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/entomolo

gy/mpb/index_e.html• www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/mountain_

pine_beetle/• www.barkbeetlelinks.ca• Call: 310-BUGS


Mountain Pine Beetle – Mgmt Documents continued

Action PlanInterpretive Bulletin

Control Prevention Salvage Ground Strategy Strategy Strategy Rules Level I Addendum Level II

Directive


Mountain Pine Beetle – Preliminary Plan (Jumping Pound Creek)


Mountain Pine Beetle – Visualization Modeling

Computer visualizations of proposed cut-blocks

within Jumping Pound Creek Compartments

(FMA 0100038) as seen from locations near

Barrier Lake and the Barrier Lake information

centre.


Mountain Pine Beetle – Preliminary Plan (West Ghost)


Mountain Pine Beetle –