No snow: Bark beetle threat increases
Publisher’s note: This is one of a series of blurbs about how the lack of winter is impacting the Lake Tahoe Basin. If you have an idea, please email it to info@LakeTahoeNews.net.
More dry weather is likely to mean more bark beetles destroying pine trees in the Sierra.
“There typically is a one- to two-year lag between when drought starts and when we start seeing increased bark beetle activity. While beetle activity started to increase in 2013, aerial surveys still recorded a fairly normal amount of tree mortality,” CalFire said in a statement. “There was significant mortality in certain areas, but overall mortality was not high. In contrast, tree mortality in 2014 is likely to be much higher. When the drought does end, there too will be a lag time before beetle activity dies down.”
California’s driest year on record was 2013, as well as the second consecutive year of below normal precipitation for the state. Without adequate precipitation, trees do not have enough water for normal growth and may be severely drought stressed by the end of the summer. For pines, true firs and some other conifers, bark beetles are the pest that typically kills drought-stressed trees. As bark beetle numbers increase, tree mortality increases. By the end of 2013 there was clear evidence that bark beetle numbers were increasing.
For individual, high value trees, supplemental watering and application of pesticide sprays (registered for use on pines) to prevent bark beetle attack are viable options and have been met with limited success, according to CalFire. For trees in forest stands and plantations, these treatments are not practical
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
Oh no, we better cut down all the trees before they die. We wouldnt want for any trees to be waisted on rotting and building up the forest soils, or dying and creating nesting habitat for birdies or fur bearing mammals, or any other benefits to nonhumans who can make money or gain political clout with their cronies. Quick, someone call mcclintock so he can order the forest service to do what he wants to have done cuz he is such a friend to all. I can hear it already, those trees need to be cut down to save humanity……
Thanks for the information. I appreciate the info.
Without adequate precipitation there is a multitude of issues- when will the water supply for snow-making get to critical mass?
Thanks for the info. The lack of precipitation has a multitude of issues. When does snowmaking operations come to a halt?
I was such a naive green believer the last time this happened (early 1990’s); I actually tried to buy seedlings from Tahoe Re-Green.
In 1980 I was cutting down beetle diseased pencil sized trees in my back yard and was stopped by the tree police.
Even though the trees were only four inches in diameter on average. I was stopped because I cut too many down. They claimed it caused a NOTICABLE DIFFERENCE.
Ten years or more later I received a notice that my property was a fire danger. Just like the @#^%$$# that made me remove the paved driveway I bootlegged in the summer of 1982. Now they want me to pave it again to get my BMP approval!
My mistake I should have paid for an overpriced ##@(&&^% consultant!
I feel your pain, Sunriser2. Bureaucracies react like mud to events, slowly and in waves. The only thing you CAN be sure of, is that whatever their rules are today, they WILL be different next week. And if that inconveniences you, it’s of no concern to them. They’re just making sure that their own jobs are secure by changing things up regularly.
P.S. As an aside, keep an eye on the bark beetle thing. Last time it happened, a contractor friend of mine down the county sold a house and was sued a year or so later because he hadn’t warned the purchaser that there was a bark beetle problem in the area. My friend had to pay! Who knew beetles had to be disclosed???