Insect attacks among threat to US forests, worsened by drought, climate change (3x worse than fires)

[OKIsItJustMe]

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http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2011/07/0293.xml&contentidonly=true

News Release
Release No. 0293.11
Contact:
Office of Communications [phone]

Forest Service Report on Sustainable Forests Offers Support for All-Lands Approach to Resource Management

WASHINGTON, July 7, 2011 -- The United States has 751 million acres of forests that have remained remarkably stable during the past 50 years, according to the U.S. Forest Service's 2010 National Report on Sustainable Forests that was released today.

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The report includes 130 pages of detailed information organized by indicator, as well as summary analyses and policy recommendations. Over 30 Forest Service scientists, senior staff and outside collaborators contributed to this edition of the report. Information was collected using 64 indicators of forest sustainability as a quantitative baseline for measuring progress toward sustainability. The report underscore that action at all levels—national, regional and local—is vital to achieving sustainable forest management in the United States.

Forests in the United States continue to face a number of threats, ranging from fragmentation and loss of forest integrity due to development and an increase in the area and severity of forest disturbances including destructive insects, development and fire. For example, the report finds that the incidence of insect induced tree mortality has increased three-fold in the last decade.

With regard to climate change, the report estimates that America's forests currently offset roughly 13 percent of the nation's industrial greenhouse gas emissions, supporting the Forest Service's position that forests have a major role to play in helping mitigate climate change.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/apnewsbreak-insect-attacks-among-threat-to-us-forests-worsened-by-drought-climate-change/2011/07/06/gIQADpWx0H_story.html

APNewsBreak: Insect attacks among threat to US forests, worsened by drought, climate change

By Associated Press,

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Marauding insects have become a leading threat to the nation’s forests over the past decade, a problem made worse by drought and a warming climate, a federal report says.

Bark beetles, engraver beetles and gypsy moths are the primary culprits behind a threefold increase in forestland mortality caused by insect attacks between 2003 and 2007, according to a U.S. Forest Service report obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press. The volume of forests in the lower 48 states killed by bugs totaled 37 million acres during the period, up from 12 million during the previous five years. Millions of additional acres have perished since.

When defoliated trees are added to those killed outright, the acreage significantly damaged by insects since 2003 totals about 50 million — 8 percent of forest area in the lower 48 states, the report says. The victims range from Rocky Mountain pine forests hammered by bark beetles to ash stands in Northeastern and Upper Midwestern states, where authorities have struggled to contain an emerald ash borer invasion.

By comparison, about 13 million acres were scorched by fires during the same period, less than 2 percent of all forest acreage.

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