Summer 2005

Restoring Longleaf in the Wake of the Southern Pine Beetle

by Zoë Hoyle

A native insect pest continues to rampage through the pines of the Southeast, leaving the green hills of summer splotched with brown. The southern pine beetle has damaged more than a million acres over the last decade, with economic losses estimated at $1.5 billion. With pine covering 60 percent of the 212 million acres of land in the South, more losses lie ahead.

"Even though southern pine beetle populations have declined since 2003, we estimate that 15 million acres of pines are still at moderate to high risk for infestation," says John Nowak, the Forest Health Protection entomologist who heads up the Southern Pine Beetle Prevention and Restoration Program initiated by the Forest Service in 2003.

The prevention part of the program represents a shift away from a reactive stance--suppressing beetle attacks as they arise--towards preventing attacks by applying forest management practices such as thinning to existing stands. Restoration addresses areas impacted by infestation, and consists of removing trees killed by southern pine beetle and replanting to restore the forest.

"Since most of the damage in the South is not on Forest Service land, we have to work through our Federal, State, and local partners to improve forest health," says Nowak. "One strategy is to replant longleaf pine, which is more resistant to southern pine beetle, in areas where the pest has destroyed loblolly and other pines."

The program works closely with the Southern Research Station unit in Pineville, LA, which conducts basic and applied research on the southern pine beetle and other invasive insects. Pineville scientists have been instrumental in describing the symbiotic relationship between the beetles and fungi that makes infestations even more destructive.

In 2004, project leader Kier Klepzig requested proposals for projects related to prevention and restoration activities. This call to action resulted in new work on restoration planning, genetic screening for resin traits tied to southern pine beetle resistance, and the development of genetic markers to track the insect's movements and population dynamics.

From Loblolly to Longleaf

Since 2003, the southern pine beetle prevention program has distributed almost $30 million to States and national forests across the Southeast, and over 100,000 acres of Federal, State, and private land have been treated. More than 100,000 additional acres were targeted for treatment by the end of 2005.

All 13 Southern States are involved in the prevention program to some extent, with 10 States providing cost-share funds to landowners for thinning or restoration. Most of the restoration projects are in the Eastern States of Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee where recent damage from the pine beetle has been most severe.

In Georgia, for example, last year's pine timber losses topped $57 million. Landowners saw their high-value loblolly pines killed in a matter of months by beetles, the value further reduced as the damaged timber flooded the market.

"Many of our landowners are wary of replanting in loblolly and facing the same situation in 10 or 20 years," says James Johnson, forest health coordinator with the Georgia Forestry Commission. "With funding from the prevention and restoration program, the Commission can offer them the opportunity to replant in longleaf pine on sites impacted by southern pine beetle."

The natural range of longleaf pine in Georgia has been documented well into the Piedmont area and as far northwest as the town of Rome. But Johnson stresses the importance of site quality when making the decision to plant.

"When we're helping landowners decide whether to replant in longleaf, we look for south facing slopes with welldrained soils," he says. "Seed source is also important. Seedlings planted in the Piedmont, where the term "mountain longleaf" is often used, should come from a similar region."

More to Come

When trees fall prey to the southern pine beetle and lie dead on national forest floors, they become fuel for wildfire and undermine the habitat of threatened and endangered species like the red-cockaded woodpecker.

National forests in Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia are also involved in both prevention and restoration programs.

"A good example is the Bienville District in central Mississippi, where the National Forests of Mississippi are using prevention program funds to restore existing longleaf pine stands where loblolly pine has seeded in," Nowak says. "Forest technicians are removing all of the loblolly to restore the forest to only longleaf, and reducing the midstory to enhance red-cockaded woodpecker habitat."

For more information:

John Nowak at 828-257-4326 or
jnowak@fs.fed.us

Kier Klepzig at 318-473-7238 or
kklepzig@fs.fed.us

James Johnson at 706-542-9600 or
jjohnson@gfc.state.ga.us

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