Comments on: The Great White(bark) Fight http://backcountrybeacon.com/2010/07/the-great-whitebark-fight/ Gear Articles for Gearheads Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:04:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.5 By: Angela Crow http://backcountrybeacon.com/2010/07/the-great-whitebark-fight/comment-page-1/#comment-25377 Angela Crow Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:54:51 +0000 http://backcountrybeacon.com/?p=5714#comment-25377 Hi all. I am a professional landscaper and lay biologist, and studied this cycle extensively.There are many factors at work here. First, the extant heath of the forest somewhat determines which trees the beetles choose to attack. They actua...lly use a type of sonar to assess whether a tree is stressed (which is pretty effin cool if you think about it). The stressed trees are the ones they go after most, often killing trees that are sick/ declining anyway, making way for the natural fire cycle of the forest. This cycle can be crucial to the health of the forest, as I'm sure many of you know, by releasing plant seeds that can only be opened by fire (like Ponderosa pine), clearing out duff and underbrush, and creating a layer of high-nutrient ash. Another, oft-missed concept, is that when a bunch of mature trees are taken out of a forest's ecosystem, the release of water is immense! All the extra water can then reach lower elevations, where it will positively impact stream ecologies. Without the fire cycle (aka: when humans decide they don't want periodic forest fires to happen, even tho it is part of the natural order of things), the beetle life cycle is never interrupted, and ideal habitat (uninterrupted, dense stands of old, homogeneous, large-diameter trees) is produced. Global warming also plays a part, as long-enough freezes, or cold-enough (30 below zero) freezes at critical times can also interrupt the beetles' life cycle. As far as natural predators, since these beetles are natives (not from Asia), there are some (nematodes, predator beetles, woodpeckers), but again, their populations are all out of whack because of climate change and drought. So, really-- it's a bigger mess than this article really indicates- yay! Hi all. I am a professional landscaper and lay biologist, and studied this cycle extensively.There are many factors at work here.
First, the extant heath of the forest somewhat determines which trees the beetles choose to attack. They actua…lly use a type of sonar to assess whether a tree is stressed (which is pretty effin cool if you think about it). The stressed trees are the ones they go after most, often killing trees that are sick/ declining anyway, making way for the natural fire cycle of the forest.
This cycle can be crucial to the health of the forest, as I’m sure many of you know, by releasing plant seeds that can only be opened by fire (like Ponderosa pine), clearing out duff and underbrush, and creating a layer of high-nutrient ash. Another, oft-missed concept, is that when a bunch of mature trees are taken out of a forest’s ecosystem, the release of water is immense! All the extra water can then reach lower elevations, where it will positively impact stream ecologies.
Without the fire cycle (aka: when humans decide they don’t want periodic forest fires to happen, even tho it is part of the natural order of things), the beetle life cycle is never interrupted, and ideal habitat (uninterrupted, dense stands of old, homogeneous, large-diameter trees) is produced.
Global warming also plays a part, as long-enough freezes, or cold-enough (30 below zero) freezes at critical times can also interrupt the beetles’ life cycle.
As far as natural predators, since these beetles are natives (not from Asia), there are some (nematodes, predator beetles, woodpeckers), but again, their populations are all out of whack because of climate change and drought.
So, really– it’s a bigger mess than this article really indicates- yay!

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