By KELLY LOUISEIZE
A management plan to curb an outbreak of the jack pine budworm on trees covering almost 90,000 hectares in the Rainy River district is being welcomed by forest licensers.
The budworm has been found north of Fort Frances around Lake Despair, Lake Antoine and Pipestone Lake. The infestation has caused severe defoliation and has created concern over wood supply.
“It looks like the infestation is going to expand north towards Kenora and Dryden,” provincial forest Ministry of Natural Resources entomologist Taylor Scarr says.
Scarr and the rest of the management team have come up with possible scenarios to deal with the outbreak.
One option would be to harvest only the trees that have been affected or are in danger of dying as a result of the moth-like insect. Redirecting the harvest is another approach. Forest companies would harvest a stand that has not been scheduled for cutting, but will inevitably be affected by the budworm. Accelerated harvesting, which refers to harvesting the stands over and above the original allocation is also being considered.
“This is just to get them before the budworm does,” Scarr says.
Spraying insecticide to reduce the population or doing nothing and letting the insect run its natural course are also being considered for other areas.
The last Ontario outbreak of jack pine budworm in the 1980s severely affected 3.7 million hectares of timberland. A protection plan was instituted where the MNR selected stands based on their high-market value and their proximity to roads. The idea was to keep wood supply flowing into the mills.
Abitibi Consolidated forester Bruce Nichols says the budworm infestation has affected almost 80,000 hectares of forest.
“It is a significant area,” Nichols says. “We have a fairly severe infestation here. If nothing is done, there will be severe mortality.”
Nichols says they are at the end of their five-year management plan, so the budworm is impacting on next term’s supply. They have few alternatives, but to harvest the already infected trees and salvage what fibre they can.
Scarr does know through previous outbreaks that on average the forest industry can expect to lose 20 per cent of the trees in mortality and another 20 per cent through top kill. When the top dies, the tree stops growing.
Oftentimes, outbreaks go without protection programs. Insects are a natural part of the health of a forest and at times, it is essential to let the life cycle run its course, he says. Unlike the spruce budworm, the jack pine budworm does not usually infect all the trees in the stand.
