Beetle burrows into state

A voracious pine beetle that has killed millions of trees in the West has spread more quickly into Nebraska than foresters believed was likely.

The presence of the mountain pine beetle was first confirmed in Nebraska this summer, and that was in a windbreak near Harrisburg, which is along the Wyoming border.

Recently though, infestations have been reported in the communities of Scottsbluff, Gering, Minatare and Kimball, and in the ruggedly beautiful Wildcat Hills. Foresters say other infestations may be discovered when beetles from this summer's special trapping effort are identified by experts.

“This has been a surprise. I thought it would be longer before we would see it in so many different places,” said Mark Harrell, forest health program leader for the Nebraska Forest Service. “This is new, so we don't quite know what to expect. In a sense, we're assuming it could be very damaging, and we're hoping it won't be.”

Individual trees can be treated to prevent infestation. But for the most part, the Forest Service's best advice to slow the spread of the beetle is to ask that people destroy dying trees and try to keep living trees healthy.

Diseased trees need to be chipped, burned or buried. If an infested tree is more than two miles from other pines, it can be left in place because the beetle typically has a difficult time traveling farther than that, Harrell said.

In the West, notably the Rockies, mountain after mountain of lodge pole pines have turned brown as the beetle has killed off millions of trees. The Nebraska infestation is believed to have arrived from Wyoming.

The good news, Harrell said, is that Nebraska's native pine tree, the Ponderosa, is less susceptible to infestation than the lodge pole pine.

The ponderosa, however, is not immune. About 25 percent of the ponderosas in South Dakota's Black Hills have become infected by the mountain pine beetle, foresters there say. Its spread in the Black Hills is roughly doubling each year, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and the Nebraska Forest Service have been talking about their options for slowing the spread of the infestation.

“It will be challenging,” said Mike Groenewold, park horticulturist with Game and Parks. “One just never knows, We'll hope it's not going to have as serious an impact here as in Colorado. But we need to prepare for that.”

Harrell said there are important distinctions between the infestation caused by this beetle and the one that is besetting Scotch pines on the eastern side of the state.

Pine wilt, which is occurring in eastern Nebraska, is always fatal once it strikes a tree. By contrast, trees can survive an attack by the mountain pine beetle.

Additionally, Scotch pines aren't native to Nebraska and instead originate from Asia and Europe. As such they have no native defense against pine wilt, which is naturally found in North America. By contrast, the ponderosa pine is a native tree that will be battling a native infestation.

Harrell said that is one more reason to mount a vigorous defense against the mountain pine beetle, rather than giving up hope and believing the trees are doomed.

Symptoms of an infestation are marble sized patches of resin, called pitch tubes, on the trunk.

To keep your pines healthy, the forest service advises that you be certain they get about an inch of water a week, while taking care not to overwater them. Dense plantings should be thinned out.

Contact the writer:

444-1102, nancy.gaarder@owh.com

« Metro/Region

Share