'iC', United States

]'; Department of

Agriculture

Forest Service

Pacific Northwest

Research Station

General Technical

Report

PNW-GTR-295

March 1992

Forest Health in the Blue Mountains:

The Influence of Insects and Disease

Boyd E. Wickman

This file was created by scanning the printed publication. Text errors identified 

by the software have been corrected; however, some errors may remain.

Forest Health in the Blue Mountains:

Science Perspectives

Thomas M. Quigley, Editor

Forest Health in the Blue Mountains:

The Influence of Insects and Diseases

Boyd E. Wickman

Chief Research Entomologist

Forestry and Range Sciences Laboratory

1401 Gekeler Lane

La Grande, Oregon 97850

USDA Forest Service

Pacific Northwest Research Station

Portland, Oregon

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-295

March 1992
Wickman, Boyd E. 1992. Forest health in the Blue Mountains: the influence of insects

and diseases. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-295. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of

Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 15 p. (Quigley,

Thomas M., ed.; Forest health in the Blue Mountains: the influence of insects and

diseases).

A science perspective of forest health in the Blue Mountains is summarized by using

both historical and biological information. Many of the current pest problems are related

to human activities that have occurred over the last 90 years. The almost complete

loss of periodic low-intensity fires since 1900 plus extensive logging of pine have

resulted in many thousands of acres of fir occupying pine sites. These fir forests are

highly susceptible to pests and to catastrophic forest fires. Some long-term management strategies are now needed to alleviate the problems. Research recommendations

also are suggested as part of the long-term solution.

Keywords: Insects, forest diseases, fire, grand fir, Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, silviculture, landscape ecology.

Abstract
The Blue Mountains of northeast Oregon and southeast Washington are composed of

a complex mix of ecosystems, habitats, landforms, and economies. Several consecutive years of drought, epidemic insect infestations, and catastrophic fire are threatening

the natural resources and the social and economic systems within the Blue Mountains.

The general health of the forests is not good, and may be worsening. A primary factor

that has led to the current deteriorated condition of the forests has been the exclusion

of fire. Past timber management practices also have contributed.

This publication is part of a series on forest health in the Blue Mountains. The purpose

of this series is to provide a discussion of the forest health issues from various science

perspectives: insects and disease; economic and social issues; fish, riparian areas,

and water quality; ecology, fire, and range; wildlife; and a summary of forest health

public forums held throughout the Blue Mountains.

The Blue Mountains Natural Resources Institute has been the focal point for much of

the discussion regarding the science issues associated with forest health. This organization, which includes over 60 partners, has broad representation and a strong interest

in restoring health to the forests and communities of the Blue Mountains area. The

institute has fostered publication of these papers as one more step in the long process

of restoring health to east-side forested landscapes.

Thomas M. Quigley

Preface
1 Introduction

3 Current Knowledge

4 The Future

6 Research Recommendations

7 Literature Cited

11 Appendix

11 Common and Scientific Names
Introduction Tuesday, September 6, 1853 - Left the Grande Ronde about 7 o'clock this morning,

Mrs. Dix on horseback, the rest of us on foot. We have come 15 or 16 miles today.

We have walked full half of it. The horses have had all they could do to draw the

carriage up the hills. Our road has been nearly the whole day through the woods,

that is, if beautiful groves of pine trees can be called woods. Stopped for dinner on

Grande Ronde River. The grass has been fine all the way except just where there

had been a camp. Wherever there were, we found wagons or baggage of some kind

left, showing the teams were giving out and people had to get along the best way

they could.

Left Mr. Hine's company this morning looking over their loads, preparing to leave a

good part. After dinner, when we had ascended the first hill, we looked back upon

the country we had passed through. I can almost say I never saw anything more

beautiful, the river winding about through the ravines, the forests so different from

anything I have seen before. The country all through is burnt over, so often there is

not the least underbrush, but the grass grows thick and beautiful. It is now ripe and

yellow and in the spaces between the groves (which are large and many) looks like

fields of grain ripened, ready for the harvest. We had a very fine view of the Grande

Ronde after gaining the top of the high hill which led us out of it This was beautiful

indeed, with the river winding through it, all skirted with trees. We are encamped for

the night right among the trees, without water and with the prospect of being without

it till late in the day tomorrow. We can do very well to night, but I expect we shall be

hungry and thirsty tomorrow before we get our breakfast

This excerpt from the 1853 Journal of Miss Rebecca Ketcham (1961) describes the

country as their party was leaving the Grande Ronde River at the site of Hilgard State

Park. It is far different from the site today along Interstate 84 from Hilgard to Meacham.

Now, there are thickets of sapling and pole-size fir that are severely defoliated by

western spruce budworm, scattered Douglas-fir and grand fir being killed by bark beetles,

pockets of root disease that are killing fir, and scattered second-growth ponderosa pine

that are often infected with dwarf mistletoe.

Almost every pioneer journal from the 1850s describing the Blue Mountains portion of

the Oregon trail has noted and marveled at the tall, "magnificent" pines, large grassy

openings, and lack of underbrush (Evans 1990). Those traveling in September and

October also noted the smokey conditions from many underburnings and forest fires

(Evans 1990). Why have our forests in the Blue Mountains changed so dramatically

over the last 140 years? We now have few large pine; instead there are dense stands of

immature pine, Douglas-fir, and grand fir, and insects and disease are decimating these

replacement stands.

A description of what was happening to the "magnificent" pine forests shortly after the

turn of the century, or about 50 years after the Oregon Trail pioneers, was recorded by

the first forest entomologist working in the Blue Mountains (Burke 1989):

An infestation of the mountain pine beetle found near Joseph, Oregon, was one of

the starting points of the great northeastern Oregon epidemic which killed millions of

lodgepole and yellow pines during the next five years

The Northeastern Oregon Forest Insect Control Project really started August 17,

1907, when at the request of Supervisor Howard O'Brian of the Imnaha [Wallowa]

N.F. , I examined dying lodgepole and yellow pine [ponderosa pine] on the divide

between Little Sheep and Big Sheep Creek near Joseph, Oregon. The mountain

pine beetle was found to be the main depredator, but the western pine beetle was

1
also present in the yellow pine During the preceding three years, 90 to 95 percent

of the lodgepole and much of the yellow pine had been killed on an area of over

100,000 acres By July 1 [1910], it was determined that the infestation was widespread, involving at least 2,000,000 infested trees, and the infesting insects were

so far advanced that no effective control work could be done on the 1909-1910

infesting broods

The bark beetle infestation just described resulted in the first large-scale cooperative

bark beetle control project funded by Congress in the Western United States (Wickman

1987). From 1910 through 1913, thousands of pine trees infested with bark beetles

were felled and burned on what are now the Wallowa-Whitman and Ochoco National

Forests (Burke 1989). This project, called the Northeastern Oregon Project, was only

the beginning of a series of projects that later extended south to northern California and

continued into the 1930s (Craighead and others 1931, Miller and Keen 1960, Wickman

1987). At this time, a combination of factors was coalescing to begin the degradation of

the magnificent pine stands in the Blue Mountains.

First, from 1887 through 1890, one of the worst droughts in recorded history to that time

occurred in eastern Oregon (Keen 1937). A series of alternating moist, dry, and normal

years followed until 1917. From 1917 through the 1930s, a period of critically subnormal

precipitation and ponderosa pine growth occurred thereby resulting in large bark beetle

outbreaks in old-growth pine throughout the interior West (Craighead and others 1931,

Keen 1937, Miller and Keen 1960). Second, lodgepole pine in many stands were

overmature and overstocked, ripe for mountain pine beetle infestation and forest fires.

The combined effects of drought and old age were causing widespread mortality of pine.

This mortality was unrelated to the Forest Service management practices just getting

under way.

Also, logging of virgin pine stands in the West was greatly accelerated during this period.

New railroads made many stands more accessible to sawmills and markets, and forest

owners wanted to harvest the pine in high-hazard areas before they became infested by

bark beetles. This was the heyday of railroad logging and large sawmills geared toward

the clear pine lumber market. Lumber was needed for mining, shipping boxes for agricultural products, and ironically, for railroad ties for the expanding rail system in the

West. In 1906, the USDA Forest Service in their new role as protectors of the National

Forests started their policy of fire suppression whenever and wherever possible, which

also contributed to future forest conditions.

These events set the stage for the next generation of trees on millions of acres in the

interior West. Unfortunately, many of the replacement stands in the Blue Mountains

were not ponderosa pine and western larch, but instead were more shade-tolerant

species like true fir and Douglas-fir. Without periodic light ground fires to reduce their

stocking, the shade-tolerant species proliferated under the remaining mature ponderosa

pine stands (Hall 1980, Williams and others 1980). These replacement stands of fir also

were highly vulnerable to several types of pests not previously mentioned as being a

problem to trees in old Forest Service reports. By the late 1940s and 1950s, much of

the remaining pine overstory was logged, the fir trees were growing rapidly, and canopy

biomass was sufficient to maintain increasing populations of insect defoliators. In 1947,

a series of Douglas-fir tussock moth outbreaks began and have continued to the present

(Scott 1989, Wickman and others 1973). In 1947, a series of western spruce budworm

outbreaks also began and became a serious problem by defoliating millions of acres of

fir stands (Dolph 1980). The current outbreaks of spruce budworm are continuing into

2
the 1990s with apparent increasing intensity in some stands. Attempts to control these

two pests have resulted in millions of acres of aerial treatment with chemical and

biological insecticides since 1948, costing well over $50 million. This is a big escalation

from the $25,000 appropriated by Congress to conduct the 1910-11 bark beetle project

(Burke1989).

In addition, bark beetles have killed many weakened trees after the outbreaks (Wright

and others 1984). Salvage operations undertaken by local sawmills resulted in several

entries into stands that resulted in harmful effects on soils which we are just beginning

to understand (Geist and others 1989).

Those sites regenerated by pine after logging and earlier bark beetle mortality and stand

replacement fires became overstocked at 80 or more years of age and suffered a large

mountain pine beetle outbreak in the 1970s (Dolph 1982). Additionally, root diseases are

becoming a serious problem in young, mixed-conifer stands and in older, partially

logged stands of pure fir (Filip and Schmitt 1990). Mistletoe is becoming a problem in

young Douglas-fir and in stands managed under uneven-age systems.

The increasing tree mortality, top kill, and growth loss caused by various pest agents,

singly or in combination, have led to drastically declining productivity of Blue Mountain

forests. This is affecting timber harvest goals projected by forest plans; it also is increasing the fire hazard and has contributed to several recent catastrophic forest fires. It is

changing wildlife habitat on a landscape level: The Blue Mountains are suffering declining forest health on a landscape scale.

What can be done from a pest management perspective to make these forests healthy

and productive again?

Current Knowledge Forest insects, particularly the Douglas-fir tussock moth and western spruce budworm,

have been studied in the Blue Mountains since 1948 (Dolph 1980, Wickman and others

1973). The population dynamics of these two insect species are well understood

(Carolin and Coulter 1975, Mason and Wickman 1988), as is the damage they cause

(Wickman 1978, Wickman and others 1980, Williams 1967). A major 5-year research,

development, and application (RD & A) program was begun in 1974 to study and

develop management techniques for the Douglas-fir tussock moth (Brookes and others

1978). From that effort and continuing research afterward, an early warning technique

emerged that uses pheromones to detect rising populations (Daterman 1978), new

sampling methods (Mason 1977,1979,1987), and an understanding of the population

dynamics and silvicultural management (Mason and Wickman 1988).

The western spruce budworm was the focus of a 7-year RD & A effort called the

CANUSA Program (Canada-United States Spruce Budworm Program). There were some

study areas from that program located in the Blue Mountains, and valuable information

was obtained on population dynamics, especially predation processes (Campbell and

others 1983, Torgersen and others 1990) and sampling techniques (Srivastava and

others 1984). More recently, sampling techniques have been improved with a lower

crown method (Mason and Beckwith 1990, Mason and others 1989). Studies of the

long-term effectiveness of chemical treatment programs are nearing completion.1

1

 Torgerson, Torolf R.; Powell, D.C.; Hosman, K P.; Schmidt, F.H

(In review). Western spruce budworm population behavior and tree

growth response after treatment with carbaryl a 7-year analysis

On file with: Pacific Northwest Research Station, Forest and Range

Sciences Laboratory, 1401 Gekeler Lane, La Grande, Oregon

97850

3
Silvicultural methods involving thinning and fertilization show promise for reducing the

damage from budworm outbreaks (Mason and others, in press; Wickman and others, in

press). New, large-scale studies are under way to assess the effects of fertilizing in

reducing impacts from western spruce budworm and other pests.

Tree diseases have not been studied as intensively as insects in the Blue Mountains.

Many pathological problems are more recent and have developed after logging or in the

more shade-tolerant species. A good synthesis of grand or white fir disease problems

and management options in Oregon and Washington including the Blue Mountains was

recently published (Filip and Schmitt 1990). There are other publications on disease

biology and management in the Blue Mountains in process, and many studies are

currently under way.

The Future If we have learned so much in the past and are learning more currently, then what is the

problem? Why can't we make Blue Mountain forests more vigorous and resistant to pest

outbreak? I think the primary reason is that we have not integrated our studies on

insects and diseases with those of plant ecologists, wildlife biologists, economists, and

silviculturists; and we have not taken a long-term forest management approach to pest

management.

We must stop trying to treat symptoms and instead make forests more resistant to pest

outbreaks through vegetation management projects on a landscape level.

Future research and pest management needs can be addressed in the context of shortterm tactical approaches and long-term strategies. The two approaches should be

integral with short-term actions carried out with long-term objectives in mind. This rarely

has been the case in the past where pest management activities were mainly oriented

toward maintaining the forest status quo by temporarily reducing pest damage.

Short term: In the short term, we need to utilize much of the timber presently nearing

harvest without sacrificing the long-term health of the forests. This should be done with

minimal impact to soil and nutrients and with a goal of enhancing ponderosa pine and

western larch wherever possible. Many thousands of acres of true fir and Douglas-fir are

on sites originally occupied by pine. Much of this fir occurs in young, mixed-conifer

stands nearing harvest age. These stands also protect watersheds and riparian zones

and provide big game habitat. They have aesthetic value as the only forest cover most

users of the Blue Mountains have ever seen. To most people who do not have al historical reference to the past, what they see now is normal to them. Unfortunately, these

forests are unhealthy and dying from pest influences. Forest managers should recognize the multiresource values at risk in their short-term activities.

We need good early detection and hazard rating systems for pest outbreaks and better

methods of predicting when and where to use direct suppression techniques. We will

need to use environmentally safe pesticides, pheromones, and silvicultural methods that

can carry some of these forests to harvest and protect other resource values. Mentioned earlier were the studies on fertilization, which shows promise as a silvicultural

method of helping some stands survive an outbreak. In both the short term and long

term, we need to conserve as many of the remaining old-growth ponderosa pine and

mixed-conifer stands as possible. We need them for their gene pool, as seed sources,

for biological diversity, and as living examples of our long-term objectives.

4
The judicious use of the early ponderosa pine risk-rating systems and sanitation-salvage

techniques may be valuable for maintaining the health of remaining old-growth ponderosa pine stands. The results of research at Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest in

northern California indicate that by cutting the high-risk trees (about 15 percent of the

stand), the remaining stand has remarkably lower tree mortality from bark beetles than

the uncut stand. These beneficial results continued for over 22 years (Wickman and

Eaton 1962).

Long term: The long-term approach is now becoming obvious to many forest managers, but it is also the most complex and difficult to achieve. Conversion of fir stands back

to serai species like pine and larch on drier sites has been mentioned by many people

as the ultimate solution (Mason and Wickman 1988). This is going to be difficult biologically, operationally, economically, and socially. It will require drastic steps on a landscape level over a long period—perhaps 100 years. There also are multiple-resource

values at short-term risk if we convert forests too rapidly on such a large scale. In some

cases, we may have to trade short-term benefits to achieve long-term objectives. We

also have little or no research or management experience to guide us in landscapescale operations. So, where do we start? We first must educate ourselves and the

public to the role of insects and disease as part of the functional dynamics of ecosystems, which play an important role in decomposition, nutrient cycling, and plant succession (Klock and Wickman 1978, Mattson and Addy 1975, Wickman and others 1986).

Long-term monitoring of insect herbivores and their effects on stands is revealing not

only the intrinsic dynamics of individual pests species, but, in terms of spatial and

temporal patterns, is telling much about forest community dynamics as well (Mason and

Wickman 1988). In the long term, for instance, severely defoliated forests in the Blue

Mountains often grow faster after a Douglas-fir tussock moth outbreak than undefoliated

forests because of a thinning effect and increased nutrient cycling (Wickman 1986).

After heavy tree mortality in a mixed-conifer forest, the natural regeneration can swing

back toward serai species (Wickman and others 1986). Some of these long-term

benefits may accrue for up to 50 years according to outbreaks studied in other areas

(Wickman and Starr 1990).

Research results are giving us a clue that we should try using so-called pests as biological agents to control unwanted vegetation, namely fir. That idea may be difficult to sell

to forest managers and the public, but in an ecological perspective, it is what nature is

doing anyway. We have short-circuited the system with past fire policy (Pyne 1981) and

by trying to prevent fir mortality by repeatedly spraying large areas from the air. The

positive economics of a vegetation biocontrol approach should become obvious after

another spray project or so.

We need to understand and enhance natural processes, not fight them. We can help by

devising silvicultural methods to aid in postoutbreak cleanup, learning to plant the right

species on the right sites, using prescribed fire and appropriate mechanical means to

maintain the desired vegetation, and conducting fundamental studies of how nature

functions on a landscape basis. By restoring natural stand structure and species composition, we will enhance the retention of biodiversity and possibly prevent the inadvertent

extinction of vertebrate and invertebrate species, some of which are yet unknown to us.

We need to constantly reevaluate what we learn and keep our long-term objectives in

sight. We will not achieve healthy forests overnight. As many ecologists have pointed

out, "there will be no free lunches"; we now must pay for the billions of board feet of

5
cheap pine logged early in the 20th century. We will pay and pay and probably see little

or no return on our investments in our lifetimes.

The alternatives are not encouraging. We can continue to spend millions of dollars in

5- to 10-year cycles on large, pest management projects, have larger and more disastrous fires to fight, and yet see the health of forests decline even further as the specter

of global climate change looms on the horizon. Fighting fires and spraying bugs does

have temporary positive inputs for local economies, but future generations are not going

to be happy with the Blue Mountain forests we leave to them.

A final caveat is appropriate given the complexity of forest health. Presettlement natural

systems also suffered major pest outbreaks. It may not be possible to create and force

"converted" landscape level forest communities into long-term stable states given the

unknowns of future resource demands, economics, climate change, and tree and pest

coevolution.

Research Some specific research and development approaches should include the following:

Recommendations

1. Develop and implement the use of silvicultural and nutrient management techniques,

pheromones, and environmentally safe pesticides to reduce impacts on resources in

high-value stands.

2. Conserve, to the greatest possible extent, remaining old-growth ponderosa pine in the

Blue Mountains. These remaining trees have survived centuries of droughts, forest

fires, pest outbreaks, and encroachment of civilization for a reason. They probably

have some genetically inherent vigor and survival traits that make their gene pool

valuable. We also have lost much of our pine seed source in some stands. Substantial amounts of seed will be needed to undertake a long-term species conversion

management approach. We need genetic studies with this material, and we need

studies on regeneration biology and techniques, especially with western larch.

3. Undertake, on a landscape level as soon as possible, some experimental stand conversion and maintenance techniques. We should try biological control of unwanted

tree species, silviculture and prescribed fire to manage fuel loads and unwanted

species, and nutrient management to maintain productivity and successional stability.

4. Study the interrelations of plants and animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, in the

remaining old-growth and re-created stands to make sure we are putting the right

pieces back in place and encouraging the major processes under which the presettlement ecosystems evolved. This will minimize the loss of biodiversity and productivity.

5. New long-term studies are needed on the dynamics and relations of soil organisms

(particularly arthropods) and canopy-dwelling herbivores to nutrient cycling under

different biotic and abiotic conditions. This should be part of soils and nutrient management research and development programs that relate to resource productivity and

global climate change.

6. Improve techniques for monitoring pest population and stand health to keep things on

track, warn us of impending pest outbreaks and operational failures, and let us know

when we are succeeding. We should plan for and fund field monitoring and data collection at the beginning and not leave it to chance.

6
7. Develop and improve spatial and multipest models that can be used to improve the

forest planning process.

As evident from the foregoing recommendations, close attention to the integration of

science and management will be needed to build and maintain new, healthy forest structures able to provide both the needed resources and a measure of long-term stability in

Blue Mountain ecosystems.

Literature Cited Brookes, Martha H.; Stark, R.W.; Campbell, Robert W., eds. 1978. The Douglas-fir

tussock moth: a synthesis. Tech. Bull. 1585. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of

Agriculture, Forest Service, Douglas-fir Tussock Moth Research and Development

Program. 331 p.

Burke, H.E. 1989. Northeastern Oregon bark beetle control project 1910-11. Wickman,

B.E., ed. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-QTR-249. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 46 p.

Burke, H.E. 1990. Northeastern Oregon bark beetle control project 1910-11. In: Wickman,

B.E., ed. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-249. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 46 p.

Campbell, Robert W.; Torgersen, Torolf R.; Srivastava, Nilima. 1983. A suggested

role for predaceous birds and ants in the population dynamics of the western spruce

budworm. Forest Science. 29: 779-790.

Carolin, V.M.; Coulter, W.K. 1975. Comparison of western spruce budworm populations and damage on grand fir and Douglas-fir trees. Res. Pap. PNW-195. Portland,

OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Forest and

Range Experiment Station. 16 p.

Craighead, F.C.; Miller, J.M.; Evenden, J.C.; Keen, F.P. 1931. Control work against

bark beetles in western forests and an appraisal of its results. Journal of Forestry.

29(7): 1001-1018.

Daterman, Gary E. 1978. Monitoring and early detection. In: Brookes, Martha H.;

Stark, R.W.; Campbell, Robert W., eds. The Douglas-fir tussock moth: a synthesis.

Tech. Bull. 1585. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service:

Douglas-fir Tussock Moth Research and Development Program: 99-102.

Dolph, R.E., Jr. 1980. Budworm activity in Oregon and Washington, 1947-1979.

R6-FIDM-033. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Pacific

Northwest Region, Forest Insect and Disease Management, State and Private Forestry. 54 p.

Dolph, Robert E. 1982. Relationship of lodgepole pine and ponderosa pine stand

density and susceptibility to beetle infestations. In: 1982 Western forestry conference:

Proceedings of a conference; [Date of meeting unknown]; Portland, OR. [Location of

publisher unknown]: Western Forestry and Conservation Association: 22.

Evans, John W. 1990. Powerful rockey: the Blue Mountains and the Oregon Trail,

1811-1883. Enterprise, OR: Eastern Oregon State College, Pika Press. 374 p.

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Filip, Gregory M.; Schmitt, Craig L. 1990. Rx for Abies: silvicultural options for diseased firs in Oregon and Washington. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-252. Portland,

OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research

Station. 34 p.

Geist, J. Michael; Hazard, John W.; Seidel, Kenneth W. 1989. Assessing physical

conditions of some Pacific Northwest volcanic ash soils after forest harvest. Soil

Scientists Society of America Journal. 53: 946-950.

Hall, Frederick C. 1980. Fire history-Blue Mountains Oregon. In: Proceedings of the fire

history workshop; 1980 October 20-24; Tucson, AZ. Gen. Tech. Rep.

RM-81. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky

Mountain Forest and Range Experimental Station: 75-81.

Keen, F.P. 1937, Climatic cycles in eastern Oregon as indicated by tree rings. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Weather Bureau, Monthly

Weather Review. 65:175-188.

Ketcham, Rebecca. 1961. From Ithaca to Clatsop Plains: Miss Ketcham's journal of

travel, In: Kaiser, Leo M.; Knuth, Priscilla, eds. Oregon Historical Quarterly. 62.

Klock, G.O.; Wickman, B.E. 1978. Ecosystem effect. In: The Douglas-fir tussock moth:

a synthesis. In: Brookes, Martha H.; Stark, R.W.; Campbell, Robert W., eds. Tech.

Bull. 1585. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service:

Douglas-fir Tussock Moth Research and Development Program: 90-95.

Mason, Richard R. 1977. Sampling low density populations of the Douglas-fir tussock

moth by frequency of occurrence in the lower tree crown. Res. Pap. PNW-216. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest

Research Station. 8 p.

Mason, Richard R. 1979. How to sample Douglas-fir tussock moth larvae. Agric.

Handb. 547. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 15 p.

Mason, Richard R. 1987. Frequency sampling to predict densities in sparse populations of the Douglas-fir tussock moth. Forest Science. 33: 145-156.

Mason, Richard R.; Wickman, Boyd E. 1988. The Douglas-fir tussock moth in the

interior Pacific Northwest. In: Berryman, Alan A., ed. Dynamics of forest insect populations. New York: Plenum Press. 603 p. Chapter 10.

Mason, Richard R.; Wickman, Boyd E.; Paul, H.G. 1989. Sampling western spruce

budworm by counting larvae on lower crown branches. Res. Note PNW-RN-486.

Portland, OR; U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest

Research Station. 8 p.

Mason, R.R.; Beckwith, R.C. 1990. Sampling western spruce budworm larvae by

frequency of occurrence on lower crown branches. Res. Note PNW-RN-497. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest

Research Station. 8 p.

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Mason, R.R.; Wickman, B.E.; Beckwith, R.C.; Paul, H.G. [In press]. Thinning and

nitrogen fertilization in a grand fir stand infested with western spruce budworm. Part I:

Insect response. Forest Science.

Mattson, W.J.; Addy, N.D. 1975. Phytophagous insects as regulators of forest primary

production. Science. 1920: 515-522

Miller, J.M.; Keen, F.P. 1960. Biology and control of the western pine beetle: a summary of the first fifty years of research. Misc. Publ. 800. Washington, DC: U.S.

Department of Agriculture. 381 p.

Pyne, Stephen J. 1981. Fire policy and fire research in the U.S. Forest Service. Journal

of Forest History. April: 64-77.

Scott, Donald W. 1989. The Douglas-fir tussock moth in northeastern Oregon—1989,

status and information report. Rep. BMZ-89-01. La Grande, OR: U.S. Department of

Agriculture, Forest Service, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, Blue Mountains Pest

Management Zone. 7 p.

Srivastava, Nilima R.; Campbell, Robert W.; Torgersen, Torolf R.; Beckwith, Roy

C. 1984. Sampling the western spruce budworm: fourth instars, pupae and egg

masses. Forest Science. 30: 833-892.

Torgersen, Torolf R.; Mason, Richard R.; Campbell, Robert W. 1990. Predation by

birds and ants on two forest insect pests in the Pacific Northwest. Studies in Avian

Biology. 13:14-19.

Wickman, B.E. 1987. Early forest insect research in the Pacific Northwest: the Ashland

Field Station, 1912 to 1925. Oregon Historical Quarterly. 88: 27-48.

Wickman, B.E.; Mason, R.R.; Paul, H.G. [In press]. Thinning and nitrogen fertilization

in a grand fir stand infested with western spruce budworm: part II, tree growth

response. Forest Science.

Wickman, B.E.; Seidel, K.W.; Starr, G. Lynn. 1986. Natural regeneration 10 years

after a Douglas-fir tussock moth outbreak in northeastern Oregon. Res. Pap.

PNW-RP-370. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific

Northwest Research Station. 15 p.

Wickman, Boyd E. 1978. Tree mortality and top-kill related to defoliation by the

Douglas-fir tussock moth in the Blue Mountains outbreak. Res. Pap. PNW-233. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Forest

and Range Experiment Station. 47 p.

Wickman, Boyd E. 1986. Radial growth of grand fir and Douglas-fir 10 years after defoliation by the Douglas-fir tussock moth in the Blue Mountains outbreak. Res. Pap.

PNW-367. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific

Northwest Research Station. 11 p.

9
Wickman, Boyd E.; Baton, Charles B. 1962. The effects of sanitation-salvage cutting on

insect-caused pine mortality at Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest: 1938-1959.

Tech. Pap. 66. Berkeley, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific

Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. 33 p.

Wickman, Boyd E.; Henshaw, D.L.; Gollob, S.K. 1980. Radial growth in grand fir and

Douglas-fir related to defoliation by the Douglas-fir tussock moth in the Blue Mountains outbreak. Res. Pap. PNW-269. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. 23 p.

Wickman, Boyd E.; Mason, Richard R.; Thompson, C.G. 1973. Major outbreaks of

the Douglas-fir tussock moth in Oregon and California. Res. Note PNW-5. Portland,

OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Forest and

Range Experiment Station. 18 p.

Wickman, Boyd E.; Starr, G. Lynn. 1990. Mammoth Lakes revisited—50 years after a

Douglas-fir tussock moth outbreak. Res. Note PNW-RN-498. Portland, OR: U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 6 p.

Williams, J.T.; Martin, R.E.; Pickford, S.G. 1980. Silvicultural and fir management

implications from a timber type evaluation of tussock moth outbreak areas. In:

Proceedings of the sixth conference on fire and forest meteorology; 1980 April 22-24;

[Place of meeting unknown]. Bethesda, MD: Society of American Forestry: 191-196.

Williams, Carroll B., Jr. 1967. Spruce budworm damage symptoms related to radial

growth of grand fir, Douglas-fir, and Engelmann spruce. Forest Science. 13: 274-285.

Wright, L.C.; Berryman, A.A.; Wickman, B.E. 1984. Abundance of the fir engraver,

Scolytus ventralis, and the Douglas-fir beetle, Dendroctonus pseudotsugae, following

tree defoliation by the Douglas-fir tussock moth, Orgy/a pseudotsugata. Canadian

Entomologist. 116: 293-305.

10
Appendix

Common and

Scientific Names

Common name Scientific name

Western spruce budworm

Douglas-fir tussock moth

Douglas-fir

Grand fir

Ponderosa pine

Western larch

Mountain pine beetle

Choristoneura occidentalis Freeman

Orgy/a pseudotsugata (McDunnough)

Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (Beissn.) Franco

Abies grandis (Dougl. ex D. Don) Lindl.

Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.

Larix occidentalis Nutt.

Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins

11
Open, parklike, mixed-conifer stands on the Whitman National Forest in 1910.

Mountain pine beetle outbreaks were widespread in the Blue Mountains from 1907 to 1915. This mountain pine

beetle control camp at Badger Creek, Ochoco National Forest, in 1913, is located in the midst of dead and dying

lodgepole pine.
Old-growth ponderosa pine stands containing large trees in parklike settings were common

east o1 the Cascades in Oregon shortly after 1900.

After a decade of severe drought in the 1920s, bark beetle

outbreaks were extensive in old-growth ponderosa pine stands

throughout eastern Oregon.

13
Currently many mixed-conifer stands in the Blue

Mountains have few remaining ponderosa pine and are

overstocked with Douglas-fir and true fir which are

severely defoliated by western spruce budworm.

14
There is an urgent need to control the amount of fir understory in stands originally composed mostly of ponderosa pine

and western larch by using light, prescribed burns and mechanical techniques. Left picture shows before prescribed

fire, picture on right shows after prescribed fire.

15

Wickman, Boyd E. 1992. Forest health in the Blue Mountains: the influence of

insects and diseases. Gen Tech. Rep PNW-GTR-295 Portland, OR'U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research

Station 15 p. (Quigley, Thomas M.| ed., Forest health in the Blue Mountains. the influence of insects and diseases).

A science perspective of forest health in the Blue Mountains is summarized by

using both historical and biological information. Many of the current pest

problems are related to human activities that have occurred over the last 90

years The almost complete loss of periodic low-intensity fires since 1900 plus

extensive logging of pine have resulted in many thousands of acres of fir

occupying pine sites These fir forests are highly susceptible to pests and to

catastrophic forest fires Some long-term management strategies are now

needed to alleviate the problems Research recommendations also are suggested as part of the long-term solution

Keywords- Insects, forest diseases, fire, grand fir, Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine,

silviculture, landscape ecology.

The Forest Service of the U.S. Department of

Agriculture is dedicated to the principle of multiple

use management of the Nation's forest resources

for sustained yields of wood, water, forage, wildlife,

and recreation. Through forestry research,

cooperation with the States and private forest

owners, and management of the National Forests

and National Grasslands, it strives—as directed by

Congress—to provide increasingly greater service

to a growing Nation.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is an Equal

Opportunity Employer. Applicants for all Department

programs will be given equal consideration without

regard to age, race, color, sex, religion, or national

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