[gone]

Beetle attack:

[gary]

When my dad first went to college back in the 50's he started pursuing a forestry degree and they were fighting the beetles back then. Here in Colorado the problem is mind-boggling. Whole mountainsides browned out with dead trees. Sure makes for dangerous fire conditions. As I understand it, the beetle is rather selective in what it eats and will eventually die out. It's too late around here. Hopefully due to prevention, eradication, or maybe lack of the right food, WA will fare better...

[peltoms]

The expansion has been severe of forest decline due to these infestations. From the Spider Meadow trailhead for the first couple of miles the forest is distinctly red, there are also numerous ghost forest already, where the trees are standing but no needles remain. Hiking up to Mount Daniels for the 25th year in a row, , it was last year that the damage began to appear on trees along the trail, this year it was more noticable and the whole Cle Elum drainage between 2500 and 4000 feet is in trouble. This is not a pine forest, this is a spruce and fir dominated forest, and it is the fir that look particularly bad along the Cathedral Rock trail. I look forward to nwhikers providing many more observations on this topic.

[jhiker]

Here is a picture that I took last year on the trail going up to Paddy Go Easy. The effects of the infestation are obvious. The trees were a lot healthier further up but the lower slopes were completely infected as shown here.

Trees showing effects of Bark Beetle infestation.

[Bryan K]

I go up to Red Top Lookout a few times a year and the forest around it is greadually getting more brown. Eventually there will be one heck of a wildfire since the beetles are creating so much firewood But on the bright side, the fires will hopefully kill the little bastages.

[peltoms]

On the way to Paddy go easy are those firs or spruce? It is important to note that there is little pine at elevation such as those.

[Bedivere]

I've been noting the spread of this infestation in WA for a few years now, not sure exactly what it was at first. The USFS really doesn't have much if any info on it on their websites. It appears that our particular infestation is Spruce beetle, which makes sense, but the outcome is the same. The infestation first really caught my attention when I went car camping along the American River probably 3 or 4 years ago. The entire valley looked dead, especially just on the East side of Chinook Pass. Since then it seems the infestation has spread rapidly Northward. These pictures were taken along Ingalls creek in August of '06:

Last year in June some friends and I drove up to the Red Top Mountain overlook and all the Spruce and Fir trees as far as you could see from 97 down into the Teanaway were affected. It appears the Pine Beetle hasn't gotten into the central and Eastern Cascades as the Pines all looked healthy, but I hear they are wreaking havoc up in the Pasayten and areas East of there. It's also interesting to note that the infestation seems to be confined to a band above approximately 2000-2500 feet and below about 4000-4500 feet. If you go to Waptus Lake you will see this pretty plainly on the hills above the lake. One ray of hope - many of the trees in the American River valley that looked dead or heavily damaged back in '05 or '06 when I first went there have new growth on them this year. Still lots of dead trees, but also lots that seem to have survived. The valley looks greener than it has in years. Also, once the needles fall off of all those dead trees the fire danger goes down significantly. Anyway, I don't have any answers, just a little awe at the power of nature run amok, and a little sadness at the thought of what our forests will look like in 10 years.

[gone]

Thanks, everyone, for contributing experiences, pics, and thoughts.

[yew]

The spruce budworm consumes foliage of fir trees and other conifers especially at middle elevations. I think it a lot of insect effect attributed to pine and spruce beetles in Washington is really spruce budworm. The USFS and DNR ought to let more fires burn in large roadless areas (especially in the North Cascades) to let a new equilibrium with the new climate become established. IMO, the forest conditions we see now are more of a result of 60+ years of fire suppression than climate change or enviro group lawsuits.

[Ski]

[touron]

I've always wondered what (unique?) set of conditions allowed for the growth of the huge Douglas Firs seen in some of the old black and white photos.

[Ski]

the rain

[peltoms]

yew_betula I agree that much of what we see is Spruce budworm, but I do see alot of fir damage too. As far as it being caused by fire suppression more than climate change. It is a mixture, the blight came on suddenly in several valleys I have visited every year for 25 years immediatley following the three dry warm summers of 2003-2005. Fires would set back the infestations spread, but I have also seen it in some young replanted areas. Any more insights? Treeswarper and other foresters what do you think? I certainly do not see it on the west side.

[SlowWalker]

The feature article in the July 2008 Washington Trails magazine was about this very topic. Apparently the Spruce budworm is not a worm, but a moth larvae, and prefers fir to spruce. The article says that while the trees look dead as their needles are eaten, many of them do survive. The mountain pine beetles, on the other hand, seem to be nasty little buggers who kills trees by boring apartment complexes into the tree, cutting off nutrients to the crown. I'm just paraphrasing the article and don't know much about it, but I find it fascinating.

[gone]