Beetles Threaten Forests

August 11, 2005

Weakened by drought and crowding of aging trees, Western forests are under siege by unusually large beetle infestations. Rising temperatures could be a contributing factor, says USU researcher Jim Powell. A warming climate has accelerated breeding and increased the range of many bark beetle species, allowing infestations at higher altitudes and threatening white bark pine stands. The damage heightens fire danger.

From “Bark beetles raise fire danger,” by Brodie Farquhar, Casper Star-Tribune, August 1, 2005, and “Ghost Forests, Global Warming and the Mountain Pine Beetle,” by Jesse Logan, USDA Forest Service, and James Powell, USU, American Entomologist, Fall 2001, Vol 47, No. 3. For more information, contact James Powell, professor, Math and Statistics Department, Utah State University, 435-797-1953.

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