Southern Pine Beetle Prevention Program
Acres treated and methods used shown on story map
The U.S. Forest Service has teamed up with ESRI to create an exciting new tool for the Southern Pine Beetle (SPB) Prevention Program. This web-based application is called a storymap, which is designed for users to navigate through interactive maps accompanied by multimedia content and informative text.
The information is provided by the Forest Health Protection (FHP) program of the Southern region, which administers the SPB Prevention program first introduced in 2003. This program, implemented by 12 National Forest and 13 State partners, is a successful model for developing an “all lands approach” to addressing insect threats over large-scale geographic areas through the assistance of many cooperators, managers, and private forest landowners.
The SPB Prevention Program storymap demonstrates the variety of treatments involved in the program, depicting the more than 1 million acres treated by federal, state and private landowners over a 13-year period. In addition to the treatments, the maps show the 2012 Southern Pine Beetle Hazard-Rating Map created by the Forest Health Technology Enterprise team. The types of treatments used by those participating in the program include:
- First thinning,
- Pre-commercial thinning,
- Low-density planting,
- Prescribed burning, and
- Longleaf pine restoration.
Showing over a decade of prevention and restoration activities, the SPB Prevention Program story map provides a visual aid to those state and federal cooperators and stakeholders who have participated in the program or who are interested in southern pine beetle management. Forest Health Protection hopes that through this interactive map, it can strengthen partnerships and provide incentives for landowners to continue managing healthy forests.
Access the SPB Prevention Program storymap.
For more information, please contact John Nowak at jnowak@fs.fed.us.