Logging High-Risk Trees to Control Insects in the Pine Stands of Northeastern California

Abstract

Abstract The problem of pine beetle control in ponderosa pine has been studied by the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine for more than thirty years. The first method of control, proposed by Hopkins in 1909 consisted of reducing bark beetle populations by felling, peeling, and burning infested trees or removing them to mills. This method of control is still in use under certain conditions, but like other methods of direct control it produces only temporary results. Consequently, members in the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine for many years have been attempting to devise certain indirect methods to reduce losses from pine beetles. One of these indirect methods is logging high-risk trees which in the pine stands of northeastern California has given encouraging results.