Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Beetles, Bears, and Climate Change

An interesting show from On Point, about the Northern Rockies in the U.S.
http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/07/beetles

1 comment:

Rick McKenney said...

The same thing is happening all over Canada. The warmer winters and 2nd and 3rd grown forests are part of the issue. If the winter temps are below -20F for 2 weeks it will kill most of the beetle larva. With the warmer winters they are thriving through the winter. In replanted forests, the trees are too close together so the beetles can jump from tree to tree very easily.

One test area in central OR where the trees were replanted in 2-3M spacing with different species and at different planting seasons led to less beetle impact. The thinking is that the trees are farther apart and of different heights so the beetles have a harder time jumping from tree to tree.

Rick Mck
Seattle WA