Spruce Beetle Remains Most Deadly Forest Pest
Forest management of dead trees killed by spruce beetles. Call or text (719)400-9104.
There are a few common pests around the Colorado area. The deadliest forest pest of all is still the spruce beetle. It’s important to detect and monitor any insect and disease activity around the forests. The sooner the
problem is detected, the easier it is going to be managed.
A few beetles cause problems year after year, but it’s the spruce beetle that is the most dangerous for forest life.
How Much Area Is Affected by the Spruce Beetle?
The spruce beetle, Latin name Dendroctonus rufipennis, affected around 53,000 acres of land in 2021 alone. This is much more than other types of beetles in the area.
The only other pest to damage so many acres (and more) is the western spruce budworm. This is a small moth when it becomes an adult, but is otherwise a caterpillar that consumes the needles of various trees. While the foliage is affected, the integrity of the tree isn’t unlike spruce beetles.
Since 2000, 1,89 million acres has been affected by the spruce beetle. To put it in perspective, that’s 40% of the spruce-fir forests in the state.
Spruce Beetles Are Native to the Area
A big problem with spruce beetles is that they’re native to the area. They have grown to benefit from the area, and new infestations grow considerably. The beetle is still on the move, which puts many more areas at risk.
The Grand and Gunnison counties have seen a decline in trees due to the beetle. The Engelmann spruce can’t withstand the attacks, leading to a lot of wildlife being displaced and in trouble.
With the trees dying, there is also a much bigger risk of wildfires. The dry and dead trees make for the perfect fuel for fires to spread, which further disrupts the wildlife and puts human life in danger. The beetle also opens the trees up to disease, which can then spread to healthy trees that haven’t been affected by the beetles yet. This further increases the risk of wildfires.
The best thing to do is to control the spread of spruce beetles. This is an ongoing task to protect what’s left of Colorado’s spruce-fir forests.
Colorado Masctication specializes in fire mitigation :