Has the Mountain Pine Beetle killed your landscapes?

[Bryan Lemasters]

we had a similar problem back east as well. the "tent caterpillars" were eating all the leaves on the hardwood trees. after a season or two the trees would die. entire forests looked as if it was winter when it was in the middle of the summer. the entire NE was affected. the forests are back and the caterpillars are much less. nature worked itself out. i hope the same holds true fro the western forests.

The problems here in WV started with the Balsam Woolly Adelgid. Now the hemlocks are being killed off by the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. Teams are scrambling to save those that are left (including some impressive virgin stands) by feeding insecticides into the tree via root branches. Now the Emerald Ash Borer is making its way into the state. Not a good time to be a tree.

[Bruce Watson]

Pine bark beetles of various species are everywhere. I've lost several big mature pines in my yard to pine bark beetles.

In the Smokies and along the Blue Ridge Parkway it's becoming unusual to see Canadian Hemlocks because of the invasion of the woolly adelgid. What we have instead are huge stands of dead trees. Very sad indeed.

Finally, I've lost dogwood to Dogwood Anthracnose. Dogwood trees fairly define this area; in the spring nothing is prettier. To loose even one Dogwood to this fungus is sad indeed.

So don't feel so all alone up there in the Pacific NW. Trees are under siege everywhere it seems.

[Don7x17]

And lets not forget that we lost almost all the timber on the Kenai Peninsula in the late 1990's as the temperatures warmed up. Homesites that were once surrounded by lush forest now have no trees, but prime views of the mountains.

[mandoman7]

Just got back this AM from shooting at a regional park that has a nice lake, and I was enjoying a foggy morning with some ducks traversing back and forth, obligingly, across my shot, when some dogs came roaring through and scattered everybody (despite signs everywhere about leashes!). This scenario is happening quite frequently in public areas where I shoot.
Most of the time its thoughtless people ruining my shots.

[Sylvester Graham]

we had a similar problem back east as well. the "tent caterpillars" were eating all the leaves on the hardwood trees. after a season or two the trees would die. entire forests looked as if it was winter when it was in the middle of the summer. the entire NE was affected. the forests are back and the caterpillars are much less. nature worked itself out. i hope the same holds true fro the western forests.

The tents are old news, but the worry isn't over. The real deal in the NE now is the asian longhorned beetle. http://www.asian-longhorned-beetle.com/

New England already lost its most iconic trees in the 19th century to Dutch Elm, now I guess we can kiss our maples goodbye too... and now I can't go back to Montana either? When will it end?

I was in Montana in 07' on the Continental Divide and Beartooth Wilderness, and didn't notice anything. How recent is this?

[Hans Berkhout]

if it's not the beetles, it's forest fires or clear cutting that changes the landscape. Can't win. Go with the flow, make the best of what's there.

[SamReeves]

Those critters have attacked the Monterey pines as well. I guess it's time for a new tree?

[jwaddison]

I hadn't realized the pine beetle had gone after the Monterey pine. If that's the case lets hope the beetle doesn't find it's way to New Zealand or Australia, where they've planted billions of the things.

[Bob McCarthy]

Definitely something going on here in the cross timbers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_Timbers

we're suffering with oak wilt which is beetle transmitted

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/SPFO/pubs/fi...lt/oakwilt.htm


North Texas Oak forests are legendary.

My neighbor blamed it on too many New Yorkers moving in <G>.

May be true, the beetles do have a bronx accent/slang.

bob

[Thad Gerheim]

Don't blame the Mountain Pine Beetle! They're a part of a natural process. Exotic species are a bigger threat to the west. I admit climate change sucks and I hate to sweat while lugging all that camera gear. But I have hope for our planet earth to heal itself in another million years, long after the beetle like human species are gone.

I actually enjoy shooting the firescapes and seeing the regeneration of growth. Lodge pole pine have evolved around fire. We live in an exciting time. My gripe is that, there is rarely a day that there isn't smoke in the sky.