Dr. Kolb Warns About Bark Beetles Infesting Wind Damaged Trees

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - The effects of last week’s extreme thunderstorm on city trees has been well documented, but Dr. Peter Kolb with MSU Extension and the UM W.E. Franke School of Forestry and Conservation detailed the perhaps even more severe damage the storm might have had on western Montana’s forests.

Dr. Kolb first put a scientific spin on the storm itself.

Dr. Kolb Called the Storm a 'Microburst'

“We had super high temperatures, and then we had a cold front with moisture in it come across fairly quickly, and when that came across, that mixing of all that energy in the atmosphere created a lot of what I call mini tornadoes, which we also microbursts,” began Dr. Kolb.

Just as the winds blew down urban trees, Dr. Kolb said it also blasted through area forests, opening the door for another probable bark beetle epidemic.

“This storm impacted a lot of trees, forest-wide,” he said. “Trees that have been compromised with tops broken out, especially Douglas Fir and Ponderosa Pine, and they will become ideal brood trees for bark beetles. So many of you may remember the bark beetle epidemic from 2005 that lasted to about 2014 that killed 75 percent of the Lodgepole pine across 5 million acres and a lot of Ponderosa pine. Well, all these injured trees are now ideal brood trees for bark beetles to move into.”

Dr. Kolb said the Probable Effect will be a Bark Beetle Epidemic

Dr. Kolb provided a primer on the topic of bark beetles.

“There are about 165 species of bark beetles, but only about seven or eight of them are capable of killing live trees, and those are the ones we are worried about, because they prefer they colonize live trees, and they prefer to colonize live trees that have been compromised,” he said. “That means next year, we have the potential of some significant bark beetle outbreaks, specifically Western pine beetle that's going to really find a smorgasbord of injured Ponderosa pine trees out there, and Douglas fir beetle that is already popping up all over the place, and there's already a bit of an issue on that.”

Dr. Kolb said if nature takes its course, there will be a bark beetle epidemic coming our way.

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Douglas Fir and Ponderosa Pine Trees are most in Danger from Bark Beetles

“I'm willing to guarantee that the microbursts that hit Missoula hit the forest as well,” he said. “There are blown over and broken off Douglas fir trees. The Douglas fir beetle needs a whole year to do its life cycle, so it's going to be infesting trees now, with offspring coming out next year. Western pine beetle is a real problem beetle, because it flies all summer long, and it's going to be colonizing compromised Ponderosa pine.”

Click here to listen to the entire conversation with Dr. Kolb and Horticulturist Sandy Perrin.