Page 27 - Georgia Forestry - Issue 3 - Summer 2024

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Every spring, the GFC participates in a trapping program that helps pinpoint areas that might experience increased SPB activity in the warmer months ahead. Specially designed traps, 50 statewide, are hung in early to mid-March during the time of redbud bloom. Every week for six weeks, foresters collect trap samples from counties throughout Georgia, espe- cially those that were highlighted the pre- vious fall. This trapping protocol, along with a new prediction model, has proven accurate in predicting SPB activity and forecasting needed mitigation strategies.
Bracing for Trouble
GFC Forest Management Chief Troy Clymer and the forest health team have been discovering early SPB activity, which is concerning.
“It’s rare for us to see active beetle signs from January to April,” Clymer said. “Normally beetle activity starts showing up in July. Central Georgia has been active as well as parts of northwest Georgia. Areas where tornadoes have passed through in recent years, like Coweta and Meriwether, are showing infestations, which can be expected
GFC foresters conduct aerial surveys to locate SPB spots, then notify landowners of infestation size and mitigation options.
because of the damaged timber left behind by the storms.”
Clymer said pines are most susceptible when they are stressed by stand conditions such as overcrowding, old age or root disease. Weather factors such as drought, flooding or storm damage create attractive targets for beetles. Lightning- struck trees are particularly vulnerable to attack, as are trees damaged by road
building or logging activities. According to GFC Forest Health Coor-
dinator Michael Torbett, “Southern pine beetle outbreaks can occur in any part of the state, but populations have been his- torically higher in the Piedmont region. Both last year and this year’s outbreaks have focused on Georgia’s Piedmont.”
As the trapping season neared its end in mid-May, the SPB count was pushing
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