Forest Health Protection in South Central Alaska 2015 Highlights J.E. Lundquist Steve Swenson Garret Dubois
Forest Health Protectionin South Central Alaska
2015 Highlights
J.E. LundquistSteve SwensonGarret Dubois
Garret Dubois
Steve Swenson
Bryon Box
The South Central Crew
Bordered by Alaska Range to Prince William Sound and Kodiak Island…. Aleutians?
Where is the South Central Zone?
Most populatedLots of towns/villagesLots of roadsArms length inspections
Intersection of marine coastal forests with the boreal forest
DiversityTopographyVegetationClimatic zonesCommunities
Autumnal moth (Epirrita unduata)
Bruce spanworm (Operophtera bruceata )
Some major insect pests of the last decade in SC Alaska
A. Technical Assistance
B. Treatment
C. Survey and Monitoring
D. Technology and Development
SC Entomology Program of Work
A.1. Technical Assistance -- The Capitol Christmas Tree
With AK DOF and AK DOA
Lots of visibility for Chugach National Forest!
Special website
Special truck
Climate Change Vulnerability Committee
A.2. Technical Assistance -- Chugach NF Forest Plan Revision
Photo credits -- U of Alaska Library
Photo credits -- Gary Brassch
1976
2006
A.3. Technical Assistance -- Western Bark Beetle Initiative Program
Hans Rinke AK DOF grant recipient
Upper Tanana Windstorm Disaster $69,200 AK DOF
Spruce Beetle Protection $3,463 Chugachmiut
Manchu Road Thinning $120,000 Salcha Delta
AK Yellow Cedar Decline Impact
Assessment and Restoration Baseline
$39,000 UAS
Cohoe Spruce Beetle Restoration $42,000 AK DOF
Haines State Forest Bark Beetle
Prevention
$24,500 AK DOF
Tok River Forest Ips Beetle Prevention. $13000 AF DOF+
Purpose: to treat forested areas damaged or threatened by bark beetles for prevention, suppression, and/or restoration.
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
$465623
$290891
$412000
$596800
$368463
$210050
$116600
$207349
$167320$153000
$341000$311163
Western Bark Beetle Initiative -- Total Funding per Year
With Alaska Botanical Garden and UAF CESForest Health Kiosk
A.4. Technical Assistance -- Forest Health Trail at the Alaska Botanical Gardens
A. Technical Assistance
B. Treatment
C. Survey and Monitoring
D. Technology and Development
SC Entomology Program of Work
Adds and changes the existing Healthy Forest Restoration Act.
Designating I&D landscape scale areas and new NEPA provisions. Criteria were: 1) risk; 2) decline in forest health; or 3) hazard trees.]
Projects must reduce the risk or extent of, or increase the resilience to, insect or disease infestation in designated landscape area.
B.1. Forest Health Treatment Area
With AK DOF
Two Areas of Alaska were proposed by the Governor of Alaska and accepted by Chief of Forest Service in May 2014 as a result of the spruce bark beetle epidemic (Kenai Peninsula) and continued Yellow-cedar decline (SE Alaska).
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
IPS AMB SBB WB
2009
2010
2011
Aerial Pest Detection Surveys 2010 --2011
Latitudinal Transect plots 2009 -- 2011
A. Technical Assistance
B. Treatment
C. Survey and Monitoring
D. Technology Development
SC Entomology Program of Work
C.1. Survey and Monitoring -- Spruce aphid on the Kenai
Apparently, a significant spread
New Reports
C.1. Survey and Monitoring -- Spruce aphid on the Kenai
2007
2015
Halibut Cove
… at Mossy Kilcher’s place.
Found spruce aphid in Homer…
Pest Alert
C.2. Survey/Monitoring. Amber-marked birch leaf miner to SC Alaska.
0
46%
40%
25%
21%
24%
19%
15%
4%2%
1%
Year 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Severity (% of leaves with injury)
2007
Cyndi Snyder’s Survey Results
C.3. Survey/Monitoring. General insect pests surveys. Trip Reports
Capitol Christmas Tree Inspection - Trip Report John E. Lundquist, Jason Moan, Garret Dubois, Steve Swenson
Deformed Spruce Foliage in Soldotna and Homer – Trip Report
Garret Dubois, John E. Lundquist and Bryan Box
Forest Health Observations along Lake Klutina Trail Trip Report John Lundquist and Garret Dubois
Ground-Truthing along Glenn Highway and Upper Copper River Valley Road Systems, the Mat-Su Valley and along Kenai Road Systems Steve Swenson and Garret Dubois
Leaf Rollers on the Central Kenai Peninsula 2015 Trip Report J.E. Lundquist
McCarthy, Slana and Squirrel Creek: Birch Thinning and Cottonwood Decline Trip Report Steve Swenson and Garret Dubois
Mid-June Kenai Trip Report Steve Swenson
Palmer Creek Road Trip Report Steve Swenson and Garret Dubois
Richardson Highway from Valdez to Tok – Forest Health Survey Trip Report Garret Dubois and John Lundquist
Spruce Aphid on the Kenai Peninsula - Trip Report John E. Lundquist1, Jason Moan2, Matt Bowser3, Garret Dubois1, and Jennifer Archis
Sterling Highway Cooper Landing to Nikiski Profenusa thomsoni Survey Trip Report Bryan Box, Garret DuBois, John Lundquist, and Bill Davidson
South Central Trip Reports -- 2015
A. Technical Assistance
B. Treatment
C. Survey and Monitoring
D. Technology Development
SC Entomology Program of Work
Spruce beetles outbreak of 1990s stopped just shortof Sitka spruce forests near Port Graham
D.1. Technology Development – Port Graham Climate Change Grant Proposal
Objective: To develop risk maps for predicting spruce beetle spread into Sitka spruce forest near Port Graham and Nanwalek.
D.1. Technology Development -- Chugachmiut Climate Change Grant Proposal
D.2. Technology Development – Blueberries and Defoliators
Reich, R.M., N. Lojewski, V.A Bravo, and J.E. Lundquist. 2016. Influence of Forest Stand Structure on the Abundance and Productivity of Blueberry Plants in the Chugach Region of Alaska. Journal of Forestry (in preparation).
Stand structure
influences abundance of
blueberry plants
Blueberry fruit
productivity not strictly
related to plant
abundance
Fruit productivity maps
not distributed by the
tribe
Blueberry productivity predictive models
Precipitation Zone
Te
mp
era
ture
Zo
ne
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.5
0.9 5
43
21
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
Precipitation Zone
Te
mp
era
ture
Zo
ne
0.1
0.6
54
32
1
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
Precipitation Zone
Te
mp
era
ture
Zo
ne
0.1
0.1 0.2
0.3
0.4
0.7
54
32
1
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
Precipitation Zone
Te
mp
era
ture
Zo
ne
0.1
0.7 6
54
32
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
D.3. Technology Development – Environmental Mismatching
Reich, R.M., J.E. Lundquist, and K. Hughes. 2015. Host-environment mismatches associated with subalpine fir decline in Colorado. Journal of Forestry Research (in press).
Optimal distribution of aspen forests in Alaska
Optimal distribution
of spruce forests in
Alaska.
UninfestedAspen stands
Infested with aspen leaf miner
UninfestedSpruce stands
Infested with spruce beetles
Warong Suksavate (Ph.D) Landscape dynamics of Spruce beetle in high Elevation forests
Kristina Hughes (MS)Etiology of subalpine fir decline
With Colorado State University
D.4. Technology Development –University collaborators/affiliations
Anh Quang Ha (Ph.D)Sampling Strategies for Forest Aerial Detection Surveys in Colorado.
Ha, Anh Quang. 2015. Sampling strategies for forest aerial detection surveys in
Colorado. Ph.D Dissertation, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO. 192 p.
Ha, Anh Quang. 2015. Sampling strategies for forest aerial detection surveys in Colorado. Ph.D Dissertation, Colorado
State University, Fort Collins, CO. 192 p.
Reich, R.M., A. Ha, J.E. Lundquist, and D. Rideout. Optimal sampling strategies for aerial detection surveys using
economic loss plus cost analysis. Can. Jnl. For. Res. (in preparation).
Hollingsworth, T., T. Barrett, E. Bella, M. Berman, M. Carlson, R.L. DeVelice, G. Hayward, J. E. Lundquist, D. Magness, T.
Schworer. 2015. Chapter 6: Historic, current, and future vegetation distribution in the Chugach National Forest and
Kenai Peninsula. In: G. Hayward et al. Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment-- Chugach National Forest. Pacific
Northwest Research Station, Corvallis, OR. General Technical Report (in review).
Lojewski, N., J.E. Lundquist, and R.M. Reich. 2015. Chugachmiut Climate Change Grant Proposal (RFP Title: BIA Forest
Climate Change and Geospatial Capacity. (funded for 2016-17). Successfully funded at $99,000.
Lojewski, N, R. Reich, and J.Lundquist. 2014. Berry risk mapping and modeling of native and exotic defoliators in
Alaska. Climate, Conservation, and Community in Alaska and Northwest Canada conference, Anchorage, Alaska,
November 4 – 6, 2014. (Oral Presentation)
Lojewski, N. 2015. Berry Risk Mapping and Modeling of Native & Exotic Defoliators in Alaska. North Pacific Landscape
Conservative Cooperative Webinar, 8 April 2015.
Reich, R.M.. 2015. Influence of Forest Stand Structure on the Abundance and Productivity of Blueberry plants in the
Chugach Region of Alaska: A Spatial Analysis. Unpublished Final Report.
Reich, R.M., N. Lojewski, V.A Bravo, and J.E. Lundquist. 2016. Influence of Forest Stand Structure on the Abundance
and Productivity of Blueberry Plants in the Chugach Region of Alaska.. Journal of Forestry (in preparation).
Reich, R.M., J.E. Lundquist, and K. Hughes. 2015. Host-environment mismatches associated with subalpine fir decline in Colorado. Journal of Forestry Research (in press).
South Central Tech Development Products -- 2015
“Boots on the ground” Field Visit Distribution -- 2015
A. Technical Assistance
• Capitol Christmas Tree pest inspection
• Assist Chugach NF Forest Plan revision -- Climate Change Vulnerability Committee
• Faculty affiliations, student advisory committees
• Forest Health Trail at AK Botanical Gardens
• Assist cooperators prepare grant proposals Chugachmiut Native Assoc. -- Port Graham
• Manage Western BB Initiative Grants & DOF CPG
B. Treatment
• Forest Health Treatment Area
C. Survey and Monitoring
• Spruce aphid on the Kenai
• Amber marked birch leaf miner in the Matsu/Kenai
• General health surveys; trip reports
D. Technology and Development
• Modeling blueberries to avoid defoliator impacts on productivity
• Environmental mismatching and risk spruce beetles and aspen leaf miner
• Optimal aerial sampling
Summary