[MCN] Insect Outbreaks Help Forests Survive Wildfires – Act Now for Science-based Management

Matthew Koehler mattykoehler at gmail.com
Thu Jun 2 10:56:42 EDT 2016


Hello: More and more scientific research (see below) is finding that
contrary to political rhetoric and common assumptions, *insect outbreaks
actually help forests survive wildfires *because insects actually help thin
the forests and move biomass from the canopies to the ground.

Remember, in Montana politicians like Senator Tester, Senator Daines and
Rep Zinke all use "wildfire hysteria" and "beetlemania" in their efforts to
dramatically increase logging on America's national forests by limiting
public participation and environmental effects analysis.

In fact, Governor Steve Bullock used the fear of insect outbreaks and
'beetlemania' as the reason for his secret, no public notice, no public
comment process to nominate 5 million acres of national forests in Montana
for 'fast track' logging (categorically excluded from the requirements of
the National Environmental Policy Act).

Please, if you care about the future of America's public lands and value
science-based management and the rights of all Americans to have a
meaningful say in public lands management please contact the following
Montana politicians and demand that they stop spreading fear and false
information in a effort to 'save' the timber industry with more taxpayer
subsidized logging on our national forests.

Thanks,
Matthew Koehler
WildWest Institute


Sen. Jon Tester: (202) 224-2644

Sen. Steve Daines: (202) 224-2651

Rep. Ryan Zinke: (202) 225-3211

Governor Bullock: (406) 444-3111


‘In contrast to common assumptions of positive feedbacks, we find that
insects generally reduce the severity of subsequent wildfires.”

“…by altering forest structure and composition from forest stand to
regional scales, these native insects contribute to landscape-scale
heterogeneity, potentially enhancing forest resistance and resilience to
wildfire.”

*Insect Outbreaks Help Forests Survive Wildfires*

Source:
http://conservationmagazine.org/2016/06/insect-outbreaks-help-forests-survive-wildfires/

When it comes to forest management, conventional knowledge holds that
insect outbreaks increase the risk of and damage from wildfires. The logic
is that these insects increase the amount of fuel for a fire because they
kill so many trees. The 2014 US Farm Bill even designated $200 million each
year for wildfire prevention measures across 18 million hectares (100
hectares = 1 square kilometer) based upon this assumption. There’s just one
problem: that assumption may not rest upon a foundation of solid science.

“Recent studies indicate that insect outbreaks generally do not increase
wildfire likelihood, [and] key uncertainties remain regarding the influence
of insect outbreaks on subsequent wildfire severity,” writesGarrett W.
Meigs of Oregon State University’s College of Forestry. Together with
researchers from OSU and the University of Vermont, Meigs decided to take a
fresh look at the question of insects’ impact on wildfire severity by
looking at large 81 fires in the US Pacific Northwest that occurred between
1987 and 2011. Each of those fires burned a minimum of 400 hectares and had
substantial geographic overlap with prior outbreaks of either the mountain
pine beetle or the western spruce budworm.

The bark beetles, which have infested tens of millions of hectares across
North American forests, aren’t invasives. They are native to North American
forests, but recent environmental changes have led to serious outbreaks and
millions of dollars of damage. Adults of the species attack pine tree
trunks (they particularly love lodgepole pines), often resulting in the
trees’ death. The western spruce budworm, on the other hand, does its
damage in the larval phase, when the bugs gobble up all the foliage of
their host trees, which include firs, spruces, and Douglas firs. While a
tree can withstand the budworms in any single season, multiple years of
defoliation by the larvae can kill a tree, or make it more susceptible to
mortality from the aforementioned bark beetles.

By comparing wildfire activity with insect outbreaks, the team found
evidence that directly contradicted the prevailing wisdom. Rather than
exacerbating wildfires, insect outbreaks might actually reduce their damage.

What’s not yet clear is how insect outbreaks reduce the severity of
wildfires, but the researchers have at least one guess. In killing or
defoliating the trees, the insects are moving the fuel along both
horizontal and vertical gradients, both by thinning the forests and by
moving biomass from the canopies to the ground. This movement may alter
forest connectivity enough that fires could have a harder time spreading.

Further, the insects’ effects on wildfire severity had different long-term
trajectories. Forests impacted by the mountain pine beetle enjoyed the
reduction in severity over many years, with burn severity continuing to
decrease even after two decades. The effects of the western spruce budworm
were shorter-lived, however. After an initial decrease in burn severity, it
slowly rose over time. By 20 years, the forest was back to its pre-outbreak
baseline.

The researchers highlight the importance of further research to better
understand this surprising pattern. It’s a critical area of research,
especially given how much money is spent each year on fire mitigation and
prevention, and given how fire regimes are expected to change in the near
future due to the combined effects of climate change vis-à-vis warming,
drought, and species invasions, and of anthropogenic activities like
deforestation and livestock grazing. – Jason G. Goldman | 01 June 2016

Source: Meigs, G. W., Zald, H. S., Campbell, J. L., Keeton, W. S., &
Kennedy, R. E. (2016). Do insect outbreaks reduce the severity of
subsequent forest fires?. Environmental Research Letters, 11(4), 045008.
DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/11/4/045008.
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