Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Windfall
Jim Dickson
>In July 2006 we had a weather microburst over a fairly large area in Northeastern Ontario, Canada and it resulted in extensive tree destruction. On my own 100 acre property I have several 100 to 150 year old Eastern White Pine trees down. Is there a danger to the remaining giants through insect infestation if these downed trees are not disposed of? I have several 100 feet tall pines still standing.
Re: Windfall
Robert Hutchins
>Howdy Jim,
In the States, most have forestry services as do many of the counties. That's who I would call with your question.
My suspicion, though I'm not a forester and don't play one on TV, is that the downed/damaged trees will be attacked and that whatever attacks them will also try the trees that survived. The strong ones will get stronger and the weak ones will get weaker if left to Nature's devices.
Let us know what you find out.
Re: Windfall
Diz
>As a forester I can make some general comments. For the most part insects are host specific - i.e. insects which feed on live trees will not infest dead trees and vice versa ----but----you get situations in which the lines are blurred. For instance, in the SE US where I work, a tree struck by lightning will attract bark beetles and live long enough to allow a brood to reproduce and the emerging offspring will attack adjacent live trees, sometimes to the point where an otherwise relatively healthy tree will be killed. It's common to see from 2 to 10 trees killed around a tree struck by lightning.
In your case it is the trees which may be severely damaged but still living which would be the potential threat, but they would have to remain alive long enough during growing season to allow broods to hatch.
So, if trees have entire crown snapped off it shouldn't present a problem. If a few live limbs remain or tree is uprooted with some of roots still in ground so that it would live into the summer then you could get a buildup of whatever bark beetle it is that works that territory. You're going to get all manners of "bugs" in the dead wood making chewing and clicking noises this summer, but these will only work dead wood - natures recycling crews.
Good answer and a side note.
Basil
>After Hurricane Hugo in '89 there were miles and miles of damaged forest here. Loggers and pulpwooders were frantic for AWHILE trying to get up all the down and damaged trees. There were some remaining good trees damaged by bugs as mentioned above. Some loss's were due to the damage done by the logging crews.
As a side note. There was a state park that had some beautiful long leaf SYP's down/destroyed but not completely wiped out. They hired an old sawmill man to log the park that had some oxen trained (his hobby)to log the park and not damage the remaining trees. I got to see them work. I thought it was pretty neat how they worked.