I did something today that I very rarely do – drove to the mountains. I wanted to check out the snow conditions and pine beetles. The snow is ridiculous – eight feet deep at 10,000 feet elevation. My dogs loved it.
As far as the beetles go, the affected areas show a consistent pattern of about every other tree infested. Basically, the beetles are thinning the forest to the density they would be without fire suppression. They are undoing the damage environmentalists have done to the ecosystem over the last 100 years. Amazing how nature is able to protect itself from clueless do gooders.
Pine beetles – thinning the forest.
“Basically, the beetles are thinning the forest to the density they would be without fire suppression.”
Huh? What kind of a forest were you looking at? Sorry Steven but this doesn’t make any sense.
Lodgepole Pine. What is confusing you?
Lodgepole pines typically grow in even-aged stands, after the last fire popped their cones to simultaneously plant them. So typical stands all mature at the same time, which is when mt pine beetles can effectively attack and kill them. So they usually kill of whole mature stands. When they get to mega-epidemic levels the beetles are so desperate that they attack younger pines or even other species (unsuccessfully) but that is the extreme scenario.
But maybe you have some more multi-aged stands down there that aren’t typical?
All that snow. I assume your survey found no sign of pikas, confirming their demise. On the bright side, there may be hope for wolverines.
I am reporting what I observed and photographed above.
Its is kind of difficult to see the forest details in those photos but now that I squint real hard I see that the silhouettes suggest a mixed forest with spruce (and subalpine fir… ?)
If so then the ‘thinning’ of the lodgepole pines among them would explain things.
That is very different than the huge even-aged lp stands that were killed off further north. Indicates that those forests either were not the product of a big burn (like even-aged stands are) and/or that it has been so long since the last fire that the spruces have been able to grow up and start replacing them. Every site is different depending on their fire history and growing conditions.
Cute little doggie!!