[CANUFNET] Mountain beetle etc.

[Menounos, Kim]

Good morning all, I thought I had better weigh in on this since Prince
George has been hit very hard by the mountain pine beetle.  

 

Prince George was in the middle of an enormous outbreak/epidemic of
mountain pine beetle that has since moved eastward and is now becoming
an issue in Alberta. I hadn't heard that Ontario was facing this pest
just yet, but if you are it is important to tackle with a variety of
methods. 

 

There are two pheromone methods of fighting the mpb - push and pull. The
push method, uses Verbenone, which mimics the pheromone emitted by lots
of beetles to tell others the tree is full up ("No Vacancy"), and the
other is the pheromone trap. This is used to pull the beetles into a
designated tree, and then the tree is removed in the fall/winter and the
whole bole is burned. You could use these methods together to push the
beetles from a particularly valued pine stand, and pull them to another
stand that is expendable. Neither is a solution on its own. 

 

The thing that is most important to do is to remove trees that are
infested and remove the bark right away. The logs cannot be stored for
any length of time, particularly not in the warm sun. The beetles will
emerge, and then what's the point?! As long as there is a very thorough
strategy of removing all infested trees before the beetles emerge, I
think it could be somewhat contained. Unfortunately we were in the
epicenter of a massive epidemic and were experiencing 14 incoming adults
for every 1 emerging locally. Too much to fight. So we've taken up a
logging operation of City parks, with lots of replanting afterwards.
Prince George has lost about 40% of its mature urban forest canopy due
to this pest and has spent over $1 million doing it.

 

Here's our website, for news releases, photos, etc. If you have any
specific questions, or want more information, give me a call.

 

Kim Menounos, RPF

Urban Forester

City of Prince George

Prince George, BC

250.614.7874

 

________________________________

From: canufnet-bounces at list.web.net
[mailto:canufnet-bounces at list.web.net] On Behalf Of Jack Sloggett
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 12:51 PM
To: canufnet at list.web.net
Subject: [CANUFNET] Mountain beetle etc.

 


I am investigating biological repellents or biological pesticides
targeted at beetles like the Mountain Pine Beetle, Emerald Ash Borer,
Asian longhorn beetle etc.  

I have been contacted by a group that claims to have a biological
solution, at least to the Mountain Pine Beetle.  Before pursuing
anything, I would like to understand more about what has been done to
date, and if there are any solutions in the pipeline.  The only
currently effective solution seems to be cut and destroy infected trees,
which isn't effective at all. 

Can anyone direct me to sources or contacts for information?

Thanks for your help.


Jack C. Sloggett  BScF
10 Wanita Road
Mississauga ON L5G 1B1
Office   (905) 465-1859
Cell      (905) 866 - 4103 
jack.sloggett at gdg.ca

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