Southern Pine Beetle ravages pines, threatens Red Cockaded Woodpecker
By Jim Widlak, CFO Biologist
Red Cockaded Woodpecker. Credit: Jay Snyder, Texas Agriculture Extension Service
Update
A severe winter snow storm in 1997 and a tornado in 1998 damaged trees on more than 3,000 acres on the southern end of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky. Subsequent mild winters in 1999 and 2000 set the stage for a severe outbreak of the southern pine beetle that is currently threatening to eliminate a federally listed species from the state.
The majority of trees damaged in the storm and tornado were pines, principally Virginia pine and shortleaf pine, two of the species which are susceptible to infestation by southern pine beetles. The adult beetles, each about half the size of a grain of rice, bore into the bark and create tunnels, or "galleries" for laying their eggs. These galleries are located in the living tissue of the tree trunk under the bark. When the larvae develop into adults, they emerge from the tree by boring out through the bark and fly to another tree. As a beetle bores into the bark of a pine tree, it releases a chemical that attracts other pine beetles to the tree. The tree eventually dies as hundreds or thousands of pine beetles bore into and destroy the living tissue in the tree trunk.
CFO Partners with Powell County Schools
by Brad Bingham, CFO Biologist
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in partnership with the Powell County, Kentucky Board of Education, U.S. Forest Service, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, county, city and private organizations, provided funding, time, and effort to convert approximately 18 acres into outdoor environmental study areas. These areas will provide students throughout Powell County an opportunity to learn more about their natural surroundings and environment.
Activities such as the conversion of fescue to native warm season grasses, wetland creation, reforestation of native species, establishment of native wildflower gardens and wildlife food plots, installation of nest boxes and bat houses were all implemented.
Wetland areas were created to provide habitat for amphibians, reptiles, waterfowl, and wading birds. Native warm season grasses were planted to provide nesting habitat for neotropical birds, and local small game animals such as the northern bobwhite quail and eastern cottontail rabbit. Butterfly gardens were planted with native vegetation to provide a food sources for butterflies, hummingbirds, and an assortment of insects. All activities serve as educational tools to assist in the development of environmentally aware students who will become our future citizens and leaders.
