Pine Beetles Can Set Stage for
Disastrous Forest Fires
Herald and News
Klamath Falls, Oregon
November 6, 2006
Let's hope the area forests
aren't in for for another massive infestation of the mountain
pine beetle. Outbreaks of the beetles take place place
periodically, leaving behind thousands of acres of dry, brown
trees, just waiting for a spark. It's a catastrophe in the
making.
The beetles apparently are on the
march again, going after the lodgepole pine and other tree
species in central Oregon.
Forest Service officials met last
week at Diamond Lake Campground, about 80 miles north of Klamath
Falls to discuss ways to deal with the outbreak.
Mountain pine beetles tend to
attack trees that are already weakened. In some respects, the
beetles are finishing a process that's already begun.
The pine beetles have swept
through the upper Klamath Basin before. In the 1980s, they left
behind wooded areas that were forests in name only.
In addition to Diamond Lake,
beetle infestations have been found at Lemolo Lake and in the
Pumice Desert of Crater Lake National Park.
“Up here, we have an awful lot of
high-risk stands,” said Don Goheen, a U.S. Forest Service
entomologist at the Diamond Lake Meeting. “If our hand was
forced, we would say there's a high probably of an outbreak in
five to 10 years.”
According to the Oregon
Department of Forestry, thinning is essential to dealing with
such outbreaks.
That's also a good practice
before the beetles show up. The insects attack trees in forests
that are already stressed, and likely to be overcrowded.
That's also a good argument for
letting some natural wildfires to burn, though under carefully
monitored conditions. That can help restore a variety of tree
species with a variety of ages to the forest, which is more
likely to be a healthier forest.
Meanwhile, let's hope the next outbreak isn't as bad as the last
one.
