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Thursday, February 19, 2004

Dead Trees May Benefit Forest

By Kathy Louise Schuit
Mountain View Telegraph
    Put the chain saw back in the garage. It's no solution to the heartache of hillsides crisp with dead piñons and might even slow the recovery that's sure to come in time, a UNM expert and East Mountains resident says.
    And stop blaming the ips bark beetle for causing the problem.
    In the East Mountains and much of north and north-central New Mexico, that particular bug doesn't even make an entrance until it's too late to save the piñons from what's really attacking them— drought and twig beetles.
    At an Albuquerque tree conference last month, Gary Smith, Ph.D., associate director of the University of New Mexico environmental services division, shared his thoughts about drought and beetles in a presentation titled "Catastrophic Times for the Pines ... observations of an Arborist."

Click to enlarge

    Smith talked to the Telegraph on Monday at his home in Cedar Crest.
    As people throughout the state mourn the loss of tens of thousands of piñon trees, they also fear fires might sweep through the vast stands of dead trees and call for their removal from public and private lands. But Smith calmly says there's no need for such concern.
    "Standing dead timber does not risk forest health," he said.
    For six months to a year after the tree dies, the needles still cling to the branches, and Smith concedes this is a dangerous time for potential fires.
    In a fire, clinging needles ignite and quickly carry the flames to the hotter-burning wood. Trees go up like candles and create the hot fire storms people fear most, he said.
    But much of New Mexico's dead piñon forest is already past that point. The needles have fallen— or will by spring— and the bare trees don't pose much risk in a fire, he said.
    Smith said he's already started to see "lots of seedling regeneration" in the dead-looking Tijeras Canyon piñon forests. To now begin to clear the forest would be counterproductive, he said.
    The activity of removing the dead trees would destroy many seedlings, he said, as well as habitats for wildlife— whose life cycles and living encourage new growth.
    Additionally, as the trees die and decay, they return to carbon elements, which are vital to new growth and sustaining plant life.
    "If you remove that much carbon from the ecosystem you really upset the balance," Smith said.
   
Different species
    The focus for most of New Mexico's dead piñon stands should now be shifting to ecosystem management, he said.
    Dead trees— like the drought and the beetles that are taking advantage of it— are naturally occurring aspects of the world we live in. One beetle— the roundheaded pine beetle— has virtually destroyed the ponderosa forests near Cloudcroft, Smith said.
    "Those are the ones that are really getting all the bad press," he said.
    Roundheaded pine beetles release pheromones to attract mates, and Smith said interested beetles respond in such numbers they can overwhelm healthy trees. Often, they kill so many trees they exhaust their food supply.
    But these beetles are not responsible for piñons dying farther north. And neither are ips, the beetle lately labeled as the piñon killer.
    In this area, Smith said, it's a combination of factors: nearly a decade of drought and a decade of higher than normal temperatures, two vastly different circumstances; both of these following 20 years— mid-1970s to mid 1990s— of unusually wet weather; and Pityopthorus, the twig beetle, responding to stress in the trees.
    The long period of wet weather accelerated the growth of trees— both in number and in size, Smith said. Then, when the wet period not only ended but turned to prolonged drought, the stress of the change hit the trees and made them vulnerable to attack by twig beetles.
   
Doing their jobs
    Twig beetles, and five types of bark beetles, are not newcomers to the piñon woods. All live in the piñon forests perpetually.
    Their job, said Smith, is to disable and kill weak trees so decomposition can provide fuel— fertilizer and mulch— to jump-start the process of growing new trees.
    Twig beetles are the disablers.
    Stressed trees give off chemical signals that notify the twig beetles that dinner is served. They rush in, feast and lay eggs beneath the bark of the small twigs forming the crown of the tree. Quickly, their numbers increase exponentially and the trees begin to show the signs of their residency.
    One of the earliest signs of twig beetles, said Smith, is the appearance of brown needles at the piñons' outside edges. Once the crown of a tree turns brown— within two to three weeks following the twig beetle attack— there is no hope of saving it, he said.
    That stage of weakness in the tree heralds the arrival of the bark beetles, that quickly finish off the now-defenseless tree.
   
What we should do
    So how do we save our piñons?
    In the forest, the answer is: we can't.
    But Smith believes protecting still-healthy trees in the residential "interface" areas between cities and forest is possible and essential.
    "The interface forest is very valuable to people. If you want to save it you have to be willing to do what it takes," he said.
    What it takes is water, careful thinning, and in some cases insecticide correctly applied to fight both twig and bark beetles.
    During the hot, dry months of last June and July, Smith said he provided supplemental watering to the trees on his own property every two or three weeks.
    "If we lose all the piñons around here, I don't plan on losing any of my trees," he said.
    Still, too much watering can be as bad as not enough.
    "Trees are normally at their maximum defense (against beetles and other invaders) during periods of drought," said Smith.
    Overwatering lulls the trees into a false sense of security and can leave them vulnerable to attack, he said.
    In addition to supplemental watering, a few trees key to the landscape can receive well-placed doses of the insecticides carbaryl or permethrine. Carbaryl can be found in the hardware store under the Sevin trade name, Smith said.
    Trees less than 4 inches in trunk diameter should not be treated with insecticides, he said— they have natural immunities and are not usually attacked. Insecticide applications will kill every bug in and near the treated tree and should therefore be used only to ensure the survival of one or two special trees, he said.
    The flip side of saving trees is removing them. Questionable trees with bare branches and a thin crown are not truly healthy and are candidates for removal, Smith said.
    Before removing any trees, Smith suggests consultation with a certified arborist.
    "There are a lot of people out there making a lot of money with a truck and a chain saw," he said.
    For many reasons, he said that's not the way to go.
    Arborists can help homeowners identify which trees should stay and which should go. They can create a schedule for gradual thinning that will not damage healthy trees by suddenly allowing too much sunlight to penetrate previously shaded areas. And they can advise homeowners on the proper drying and disposal of the cut wood, Smith said.
    For the most part, Smith said people should not be afraid to prune and gradually thin— no more than 10 trees a year— the trees on their property. And now is the time to do it.
    From now until April, Smith said, the beetles are still dormant, the sunlight breaking through into new areas is not as hot and damaging as it will become in the spring and the air is very dry.
    Dry air is critical in the disposal of the cut wood, he said.
    After pruning or thinning, the resulting wood should be cut or chipped and scattered loosely about the property to facilitate quick, thorough drying. This process, said Smith, will virtually eliminate the potential for beetles to spread either to or from the wood.
    With patience and non-invasive management, Smith said he's confident New Mexico's piñon forests can naturally overcome the combined conditions that have caused such devastating destruction to both trees and human morale.