Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
Originally published November 20, 2011 at 9:00 PM | Page modified November 20, 2011 at 9:47 PM
State scrambles to fight massive tree die-offs
Washington's forests are deteriorating so quickly that the state commissioner of public lands says he'll appoint an emergency panel of scientists and foresters to seek ways to stabilize the situation or reverse the decline.
By Craig Welch
Seattle Times environment reporter
<!-- qtitle: State forester with the Department of Natural Resources --><!-- quote: "If you don't get started doing something soon, it will quickly overwhelm your capacity to respond. I'm certainly not going to sit by and watch it happen here without doing anything." --><!-- quote: Aaron Everett -->
More photos:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/zoom/html/2016814861.html
So many pine, fir and spruce trees in the Northwest are riddled with bugs and disease that major tree die-offs are expected to rip through a third of Eastern Washington forests ? an area covering nearly 3 million acres ? in the next 15 years, according to new state projections.
Because Washington's forests are deteriorating so quickly, the state commissioner of public lands last week said he'll appoint an emergency panel of scientists and foresters to seek ways to stabilize or reverse the decline.
...
The number of acres of trees damaged in the past decade by diseases such as blister rust and invasions of western spruce budworm and bark beetles is more than twice what it was in the 1990s ? and three times greater than in the 1980s.
Full text:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016814224_deadforest21m.html
State scrambles to fight massive tree die-offs
Washington's forests are deteriorating so quickly that the state commissioner of public lands says he'll appoint an emergency panel of scientists and foresters to seek ways to stabilize the situation or reverse the decline.
By Craig Welch
Seattle Times environment reporter
<!-- qtitle: State forester with the Department of Natural Resources --><!-- quote: "If you don't get started doing something soon, it will quickly overwhelm your capacity to respond. I'm certainly not going to sit by and watch it happen here without doing anything." --><!-- quote: Aaron Everett -->
More photos:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/zoom/html/2016814861.html
So many pine, fir and spruce trees in the Northwest are riddled with bugs and disease that major tree die-offs are expected to rip through a third of Eastern Washington forests ? an area covering nearly 3 million acres ? in the next 15 years, according to new state projections.
Because Washington's forests are deteriorating so quickly, the state commissioner of public lands last week said he'll appoint an emergency panel of scientists and foresters to seek ways to stabilize or reverse the decline.
...
The number of acres of trees damaged in the past decade by diseases such as blister rust and invasions of western spruce budworm and bark beetles is more than twice what it was in the 1990s ? and three times greater than in the 1980s.
Full text:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016814224_deadforest21m.html