Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1928-03-16
WAGING WAR ON
PINE BEETLES
WESTERN MONTANA WILL BE SCENE
OF CAMPAIGN DURING THE
COMING SUMMER

approximately 500. 900 Will be spent
during the coming summer to control
the mountain pine beetle epidemic,
which for several seasons has ravaged
Montana forests and which Is a men,
ace of increasing proportion to the
m~erchantabie timber areas I'm the Deer
Lodge, Beaverhead and Bitter Root ma
tional forests. As many as 400 men
may be employed for the beetle con-
troll operations.
In treating infested trees, bark is
stripped away. exposing bare trunks. The
work is tedious and there Is never abso-
lutte certainty that infestation is stamped
out. Considerable work has already been
lone at Deer Lodge and in the Big Hole
basin. Thu epidemic has become so
widespread In the Bitter Root forest that
efforts to control 1t have been practically
abandoned. according to the govern
ment's report. In order to save mer-
charitable timber in the Beaverhead and
Deer Lodge forests. the coming campaign
will be concentrated in districts sur
rounding Butte.
Funds Available
With the enactment of the first def
cheney bill funds were made available to
the forest service for forest-insect con-
troll. The principal need for these funds
was for work to prevent the spread of an
epidemic of great magnitude Of the
mountain pine beetle from the Bitter
Root national forest and southwark into
the great body of lodgepole pine In the
Yellowstone National park and surround
ing national forests.
The mountain pine beetle is a small,
black, hard-shelled insect, rarely more
than a quarter of an inch long. 1t at
tacks several species of pine, boring holes
through the bark, these tunnels girdling
the tree and causing its early death. This
beetle is one of the most destructive Of
four or five so-called pine beetles which
attack pine timber throughout the vest
ern states. Ordinarily these beetles are
present in the forest in small numbers
and do not cause N great damage, but
occasionally they increase enormously in
numbers over wide areas and literally de-
stroy millions OF trees.
Epidemic Intense
An idea Of the intensity OF the present
epidemic may be gained from the fol-
lowing: On the west side of the Cont
mental divide. in an area OF about 20
square miles in the heart Of the infesta-
ton, about $4,000 trees per square mile
of forest have been killed.
To attempt to completely control an
epidemic OF such intensity would be al
most a physical impossibility. There are
probably more thar 100000 infested
trees which would have to be treated, at
ar average cost of $3.50 to so a tree.
Such a campaign of suppression would
require more than 81, SOC. 900. Apparently
the only other alternative is to abandon
all hope of saving une timber in the
Bitter roc national forest and to con-
centrate efforts of control on the Beaver
head as the beetles come across the Con-
tinental divide.
In Big Hole
AT the present time a considerable pro-
portion of the timber surrounding the
Big Hole basin is merchantable. Stands
Of lodgepole completely surround the
Big Hole basin, which is a famous stock
and farming section The inhabitants
draw upon these stands for fence posts,
poles, and lumber for farm use, Though
not much of the timber Is being shipped
u Of the valley now, 1T is expected that
there will be a considerable demand on
these forests for railroad ties and mine
props In the course Of the next few years.
The attention OF the bureau Of ento-
mology was first called to this epidemic
in 1909. when the mountain pine beetle
was killing lodgepole pine In the Flat
head national forest, In Montana. near
the Canadian border. Since then the
infestation has spread southwark
through the Missoula and Bitter Root
national forests. and most Of the de-
struction has been on the west side OF
the Continental divide. In reaching a low
point on the Continental divide between
the Bitter Root and Beaverhead forests
the beetle started to- swarm across the
divide into the more accessible and mer-
charitable timber surrounding the Big
Hole basin. This i~nfestation west of the
divide had been 30 extensive that 1t was
deemed q physical impossibility to con-
troll 1T, and prior to the invasion Of the
Big Hole basin the epidemic was in an
area where most OF the timber would
not be merchantable for some years to
come. Three years ago. when the In
~festation. started. spreading. across. the
Continental divide, an effort was made
to hold 1t In the western area and to take
advantage Of the partial barrier caused
by the divide. This strategy has re-
quired larger expenditures each succeed
Ing year. During the coming season ap-
proximately $1,000 600 will be needed to
treat the trees that have been infested by
the beetles which few across the divide
last summer.
j. c. Evenden Of the Occur d'Alene
tIdaho) field laboratory of the bureau OF
entomology, has been directing the en-
genealogical features of this project. in
cooperation with the forest service
which is handling the administrativ