Poderosa Bark Beetles are out in force...

[Cactus Red]

On our recent scouting trip, we noticed that when the wind quit blowing and it got quiet, we could hear tens of thousands of clicks from forest around us. Literally every tree we went to had hundreds of visible holes bored, and the sound of the buggers eating the inner layer was everywhere. It looks like we're going to see another massive tree kill this year like we had in '02 and '03. Unfortunately this one is occurring in the areas spared ten years ago at high elevations.

http://ag.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/fh/Pr ... eetles.pdf

As noted in the article, we experienced a 50 to 80% kill at lower elevations 10 years ago. What it doesn't say is that mortality rate was 100% on south facing slopes below 7000', and as of yet, there are no new trees coming up.

[azracer]

This really sucks. I have some property in New Mexico that we loved due to all the pinion pines and other trees. The elevation is about 7000' and now the pinion pines are being killed by the beetles. Sad but I doubt any of the trees are going to survive there either. It is going to make for a very different landscape and allow for mudslides and massive erosion. I don't know what will fix this but I do know a global carbon tax will not fix anything related to our weather changes!

[Cactus Red]

Yeah, it will change things drastically. After the last big beetle kill I always thru a chainsaw in the truck. Up until just a couple years ago, we had trees down across every road and trail after the winter months, and occasionaly after a big monsoon storm. It takes about 4 or 5 years for the pines to rot to the point where they start coming down in piles.

[Cactus Red]

http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm4/item_v ... SOPTR=1006

Audio recording of the clicking...

[pdavey]

That really sucks. I hope they don't end up devastating the forest in the area, although in reading the article it doesn't sound like there is a lot of hope

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[04Ram2500Hemi]

We have the same problem in Montana. Eventually we are going to be due for another big fire season, and when it hits its going to be nasty.

[Fireman78]

If you have a small piece of mountain property, and you have an atv and a decent sprayer (With a good reach) you succesfully sprsy "Seven" or pyrmethrin on your trees, before they get infested. It will prevent the larva from forming and hatching. If the tree is already infested your pretty screwed. It just impossible on larger areas though. I have it too on my property. People get anniyed with all the moth outbreaks, but to them its an annoyance, but many dont realize when you see massive moths outbreaks, your trees are being killed. Its very sad.