The Southern Pine Beetle

[Ron Scott]

The Southern Pine Beetle: The Tree Killer
NPS
 Given that it's smaller than a grain of rice, it might be hard to believe that the minuscule southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis) could cause massive damage to forests! These beetles have been a well-known foe of the southern United States for centuries, but they are a new enemy to the Northeast. Read More

[Magicman]

PatD and I drove to Jackson, about 50 miles, today.  The interstate median and the ROW on each side is completely lined and piled up with beetle killed Pine trees that have been felled and windrowed to keep them from falling across the highway.  Many thousands of trees.  The contractor is being paid $40 per tree to fall and windrow them.

[Don P]

I followed a link to a related article;
Research Brief: Tracking the spread of the Southern Pine Beetle (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
We had an outbreak here in the Mt Rogers area, I guess about a decade or so ago. They got into a remnant red spruce stand up there and a friend horse logged the trees out. I sawed and dried some for another builder. Some went to a local luthier. Now I'm really hoping that was a freak change of fare. If they have made it up to Maine and have more than pitch pine on their menu it could be really bad.

[Magicman]

Ironically our last major Southern Pine Beetle outbreak here was just before I bought my sawmill.  I was harvesting and hauling infected SYP logs to a sawyer when I realized that I was on the wrong side of lumber.  I was a user and needed to be a producer so I told PatD that I was gonna buy a sawmill.  I paid for my sawmill that first year selling Pine lumber and the rest is history.