The Fire-Fire Surrogate Study (FFS) is a national, multi-disciplinary study funded by the Joint Fire Science Program (USDI-USDA). There are 13 sites located throughout the United States and all represent forests with a historically short-interval, and low- to moderate-severity fire regime. Eight of these sites are in western coniferous forests and share ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa, as an important tree component. The objective of the study is to quantify the short- and long-term effects of fire and fire surrogate treatments on: vegetation, fuel and fire behavior, soils, wildlife, insects, pathogens, and cost and utilization economics. The project consists of four treatments, each replicated three times: control, fire only, mechanical only, and fire + mechanical. Treatment areas range from 13 to 29 hectares and each contains twenty 0.04-hectare (0.1-acre) plots. Plots were established on a grid pattern, 60.4 meters (198 feet) apart. At Blodgett Forest Research Station located in El Dorado County, CA, entomological and pathological pre-treatment data were obtained for each plot in each treatment in June and July 2001. In addition, 360-degree scans were taken from each plot center to identify symptomatic trees (discolored foliage) outside of the plot area. We will present analyses of the incidence and severity in the four treatments for the red turpentine beetle, Dendroctonus valens, western pine beetle, D. brevicomis, mountain pine beetle, D. ponderosae, fir engraver beetle, Scolytus ventralis, engraver beetle, Ips spp., defoliators (in general), scale insects, root diseases (annosus root and butt rot, Heterobasidion annosum, and black stain, Leptographium wageneri), mistletoes (true and dwarf), rusts (white pine blister rust, Cronartium ribicola, western gall rust, Peridermium harknessii, and Incense-cedar rust, Gymnosporangium libocedri), and other diseases (true fir needle cast, Lirula abietis-concoloris, and Elytroderma disease, Elytroderma deformans).
Species 1: Coleoptera Scolytidae Dendroctonus valens (red turpentine beetle)
Species 2: Coleoptera Scolytidae Dendroctonus ponderosae (mountain pine beetle)
Species 3: Coleoptera Scolytidae Scolytus ventralis (fir engraver)
Keywords: forest insects and diseases, fire surrogate study
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA