The MPB was first discovered in the Black Hills around As such it was named the Black Hills Beetle. Later, as the same species was found

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2 The MPB was first discovered in the Black Hills around As such it was named the Black Hills Beetle. Later, as the same species was found throughout the intermountain west, it was renamed to the Mountain Pine Beetle. 2

3 The mpb has one life cycle per year. It hatches from the egg in late summer/early fall and overwinters as a larva. In the spring the beetles pupate and by mid summer they mature into adults. In the Black Hills, the Sturgis Motorcycle in early August acts as a good reminder that the beetles are emerging and flying to new green trees to infest. Beetles can begin emerging in early summer through fall, but the peak of the beetle flight is always in early August corresponding to typically the most vulnerable time for trees (minimal rainfall and moisture). 3

4 When beetles emerge they fly from the now dead trees to infest new green trees. The three D s drive the MPB infestation; density, diameter, and diversity. In the Black Hills we have lots of the three D s: 1) Lot s of high density forested stands (pictured), 2) lots of trees that are suitable to support the MPB (9 +), and 3) homogeneous forest conditions with only 1 or 2 primary tree species. 4

5 From a tree top view, we can see the trees the bugs emerged from (brown), and if we were to go on the ground, the trees adjacent to the dead ones are likely the ones housing the new infestations. For most of their life cycle, the beetles are in green trees. They only begin to turn brown right before the beetles emerge. 5

6 On the ground, we can see the signs of a successfully infested tree. The tree defends itself by expelling sap as the MPB begins to bore in. In cases where there are just a few beetles attacking a tree, the tree may be able to defend itself and expel the beetle (upper right). In many cases, the beetles mass attack in large numbers and are able to overcome the trees defenses. Seasonal moisture plays a role here in dry years, the tree can t produces adequate amounts of sap to defend itself. This is also typical on dry rocky sites where there is little available moisture. In times of adequate rainfall or on good moist sites, the trees can producessap sap andcombat less intensive attacks. 6

7 If we peel back the bark in the fall, we see the larva that have hatched. The adult MPB excavates a vertical gallery as it lays eggs. When the eggs hatch, the larvae emerge and begin chewing horizontally. The beetles only chew through the phloem, just underneath the bark. You ll also notice a blue stain. This is introduced into the tree via the beetles. The stain begins to advance through the tree from the outside towards the center (xylem only). The xylem transports water from the roots to the needles and the stain plugs the cells as it advances. Between the blue stain blocking water uptake to the needles, and the beetles girdling the food supply from the needles to the roots, it acts as a one two punch, suffocating the tree. 7

8 Here we see the blue stain progressing from the outside, inward. This picture was likely taken in late fall/early winter. By the next summer, most of the sapwood (xylem) is blue stained. If trees are processed in a sawmill, the lumber has blue streaks in it from the stain. This blue stained wood is less desirable to the public because it is viewed as a defect, even though the stain is cured when the lumber is dried in a kiln. Structurally, there is no difference between a blue stained board and a clear board. 8

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10 To know how we got here, we need to look back in history. In the Black Hills, we had the Custer Expedition that came through the hills in the late 1800 s. Part of this wagon train included a photographer (pictured center) with a dark room on a wagon. He took pictures of what the landscape looked like before white settlement. Pictured lower right is General Custer. 10

11 The pictures from the Custer Expedition showed a drastically different landscape, most notably is the absence of trees likely due to unchecked beetle epidemics and wildfires. The photo points were well outlined in journals from the expedition and we are able to find the same photo point in modern times. 11

12 Again, we note the abundance of trees here. This situation is probably identical in any western forest MT, CO, WY, etc. 12

13 It can also be said that we don t have a pine beetle problem, but rather a tree problem. In the Black Hills, our soil temperature and moisture (in the form of rainfall) overlap to create a large window for ponderosa pine seed germination. In other more mountainous regions, the window is decreased significantly because the moisture is derived from snow pack melt rather than rain. In these areas they may experience good ponderosa pine seed crops every years, where in the Black Hills we get good crops every 2 3 years. 13

14 Highlighting the major driving factor in MPB epidemics, tree density is by far at the top. It s an issue of carrying capacity. It doesn t matter if it s deer, cattle, trees, or what the landscape can only support so much of something. In the case of forests, and highlighted by the Custer Expedition photos, we are in a scenario of exceeding the carrying capacity. When this happens, mother nature brings it in to balance, in this case through bugs and fires. This is where the concept of forest management can come into play as well, helping to manage the continuous growth of the forest. 14

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16 Again hitting on the three D s Diversity. Our age class diversity is of even aged nature, in that all the trees are mature and in the year age class. Same thing in other western forests. It s like a stock portfolio, we need diversity in stocks incase something happens to a sector. We are fully invested in Enron stock and it is crashing. Ideally we want a mosaic some young, some middle, and some old. An ideal curve here would be an inverse curve a high number of young trees sloping downward to fewer larger trees (think nutrients, spacing, sunlight, etc). When highlighting this in lodgepole forests, you can look at the clear cutsfrom cuts the 1960 s & 70 s s. These patches are often the only greenon an infested landscape. They are small enough the beetles can t reproduce in them, so they are often left uninfested. 16

17 Next is a progression of the last five years of mpb infestation. These maps are likely already produced on all the other national forests. The USFS does an annual flight where they fly and document this. By calling the supervisor's office on those forests, they would be able to get you those maps for free. Some disclaimers the red documents new activity. The forest under the red doesn t mean every tree is dead, but that those acres have been significantly impacted. 17

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22 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. This is the end result in ponderosa pine forests, a patchy infestation. Eventually these patches of dead trees will merge together, likely until the entire landscape is ravaged. Many uses are highlighted on the next slide that are impacted. Here you see the road, but also a prominent bike trail that traverses the entire forest. Huge with the visitors and tourism. 22

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24 In the end, the largest threat is a catastrophic wildfire. The forest dying is just half the cycle mother nature uses. Western forests die & burn or just burn if left unchecked. 24

25 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. Here is the fuel loading in one of the wilderness areas impacted by the MPB in The pink ribbon is at 6, showing the extent of the fuels. Today, there isn t a green tree left in here. If a fire were to come through here, it would burn with high intensity and burn everything. The remaining soils would form a hard crust from the high heat that doesn t allow water to infiltrate. The next forest would not appear here for another 100+ years probably because all of the seed source is burned up the same goes for lodgepole pine serotinous cones. It would have to seed from the outside fire perimeter inward. 25

26 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. More fuel load from the same wilderness. Today the only green trees left are the spruce, which are unable to be successfully attacked by the MPB. 26

27 Following a MPB epidemic in the Black Hills, most of the ponderosa pine begin to fall over after 3 5 years. In other parts of the west, lodgepole pine can stand for several years after attack, but this is dependent on the site aspect it is located on. The resulting fuel load creates more problems down in fire evolved ecosystems. 27

28 After trees are killed by MPB, the resulting fire hazard is extremely high as trees are in the red & dead phase. The hazard is then reduced as the needles begin to fall off. As the trees begin to fall over, the hazard is again increased. Just to define terms here: fire risk is the likelihood of a fire starting fire hazard refers to the ability of a fire to be carried. Matt Jolly & Sonny Stiger of Montana have done extensive research during the recent MPB epidemic facing the west. What hey are finding is the hazard isn t reduced as much as originally thought when the needles fall. In other words, there should be less of a dip in the above mentionedfigure figure. 28

29 Above is the Jasper fire which burned in 2000 in the Black Hills. It was the largest fire in recorded history on the forest and burned 84,000 acres in a matter of days. The fire burned in green timber and had little to no MPB infestation in it. The fire grew so big, it created it s own fire storm which resulted in a thunderhead forming and sending lightning strikes in the area. 29

30 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. This slide varies depending on severity and extent of the MPB epidemic in a given forest. In areas currently affected but not decimated, the above mentioned can work well. In other forests, a different strategy is needed. In highly impacted areas, more effort is given to clean up and public safety. Fuel breaks will be important around towns and housing areas. Managing the next forest will be the direction needed in the future so we don t get the same result. Much of the lodgepole pine is dead and in some areas, lots of lodgepole seedlings are beginning to take root. Thinning these areas will be important in the next 20 years so that we don t have an even aged forest in the future, resulting in the same ending. 30

31 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. On the Black Hills, we still do lots of proactive thinning. Ponderosa pine has a wide root system that allows open thinning like this with minimal windthrow. Lodgepole pine can only be thinned like this in small areas. Clear cuts are the primary way to manage that tree, which if done in small patches over time, create the mosaic and age class diversity over the landscape which can prevent massive epidemics like we have seen. Proactive thinning like this also allows us the opportunity to remove green infested trees we find as well. The residual forest stands are left at low risk to infestation with little to no activity from MPB. You can see the unthinned areas and how the MPB is beginning to spread in these untreated areas. 31

32 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. Here is an example of our typical ground based harvesting. A feller buncher efficiently and effectively cuts trees for removal. This method is by far the most cost effective way to thin forest and remove infested trees in the process. 32

33 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. Log skidders pull timber that was harvested by the feller buncher. 33

34 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. At the landing, trees are processed into logs and loaded on to truck to go to the mills. 34

35 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. The end result is a thinned forest that has little to no MPB activity. Note the pocket of infestation in the lower left. This stand has yet to be managed and are showing the early signs of infestation. 35

36 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. Again, sanitation is the removal of green infested trees. Here we see several small pockets on the hillside. 36

37 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. In just one year, we can see how the infestation has grown as more pockets of infestation appear on the hillside. One form of sanitation is referred to as cutting & chunking and one of the better tools in this situation. The process is explained on the following slides 37

38 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. Crews locate infested trees and fell them. 38

39 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. Once felled the bole of the tree is cut and chunked into 2 chunks. These smaller chunks help facilitate a drying process that effectively dries out the bark, causing it to separate from the wood. This exposes the beetles to the elements, leading to mortality. 39

40 Other methods of sanitation include chipping trees and peeling bark. 40

41 Heli logging was done in Custer State Park which removed infested trees from rugged ground. Ground based harvesting equipment was unable to operate on the steep terrain. Because of it s high tourism and aesthetic value, the State spent millions to conduct these sanitation treatments. 41

42 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. The end result is a visible line between the managed forest of the park and the unmanaged forest of the wilderness. Wilderness areas do not allow mechanical treatments or the harvesting of trees. The current beetle epidemic got a head start in the wilderness area and infested thousands of acres adjacent to it. Currently the wilderness area is >95% dead. 42

43 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. Spraying trees is another method to prevent infestation. It is important to note that trees already infested are unable to be saved. Spraying methods must be applied in advance of the annual MPB flight, typically in May. 43

44 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. Pheromone baiting is another alternative. MPB communicate through the use of pheromones; attracting other beetles when mass attacking a host, and in repelling beetles once the host is occupied. In highly controlled environments, trees are able to be sprayed (which kills the beetle on contact), and have an attractant pheromone pouch attached. When the beetles fly in to the baited trees, they land on the chemical and die. On many forests, this method is still being experimented with. Conducting pheromone baiting improperly can result in unintended consequences resulting in trees successfully attacked and killed that normally would not have been infested. 44

45 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. There are many biological controls that prey on mountain pine beetles. Woodpeckers, wood borers, and clerids (parasitic beetles) all eat mountain pine beetles. Often times, MPB populations increase at a rapid rate. Predators are unable to increase their populations at those rates and often lag. As a result they are relatively ineffective in representing a reliable control agent. 45

46 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. Other issues that can be incorporated into PLT curriculum include policy and current events. Many service groups are also interested and represent another audience that could benefit from PLT materials. The new module: Focus on Forests, has several good activities that allow these items to be incorporated. 46

47 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. In the end, we have a native insect doing what it is supposed to do. We have large expanses of forests that have had little in the way of active management or even natural regimes such as fire. The end result is mother nature bringing dense forests back to the carrying capacity. Many species rely on forests, and even dense stands. The take home message is identifying what the desired future condition is of your forest. The ecological progression of forests is from young to mature and back to young. If we want to keep mature forests and dense stands (things certain plant & animal species need) then we need to vigilant duringepidemics and protect these areas typicallythrough through management. 47