Beetle Mania in the Applegate: Is Tree-Kill a Fire and Ecological Problem that Justifies BLM Logging?

Thursday February 19th – 6pm – Ruch Library

Native beetles, such as the flat headed fir borer beetle have experienced episodic population booms in the forests of southwest Oregon. Although often maligned, these beetles are forest architects and their effects have ecological significance. The flat headed fir borer beetle has killed many Douglas-fir trees in the Applegate at lower elevations in recent years, predominantly in the drier, eastern portions of the watershed, and in more arid plant communities. BLM is now pushing to not only “salvage” log the dead standing snags that are important for wildlife, but also to log living green trees in response to the beetle kill, creating more cumulative mortality in treated stands than in other portions of the landscape. Dr. Dominick DellaSala will discuss native beetles as forest architects, their ecological role in forest ecosystems, and the often dampening affect of gray and late stage beetle mortality on both stand and landscape level fire risks.

Dr. Dominick A. DellaSala is Senior Conservation Science Associate in the North America Initiative of the Conservation Biology Institute and former President of the Society for Conservation Biology, North America Section. He is an internationally renowned author of >350 peer-reviewed papers and 9 award-winning books on forests, climate change, endangered species, and speaking truth to power. Dominick has given plenary, and keynote talks at numerous academic conferences, the United Nations (UN) Earth Summit, and international climate change and biodiversity summits. He has appeared in National Geographic; Science Digest; Science Magazine; Scientific American; Time Magazine; Audubon Magazine; High Country News; NY Times, LA and Seattle Times, and Washington Post cover stories; USA Today, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, “Living on Earth (NPR),” and even Fox News! Dominick has served on numerous policy committees, including White House Council task forces on forests, the Oregon’s Global Warming Commission carbon task force reporting to the governor, and the US Geological Service biodiversity and climate change reports. He is editor of 6 scientific journals. Dominick is motivated by his work to leave a living planet for his 2 daughters, 4 grandkids and all those that follow.

Luke Ruediger from Applegate Siskiyou Alliance will also give an update on the current BLM salvage logging happening in the Applegate, including the Apple Saws Timber Sale and Holcomb Hollow Timber sale, as well as the upcoming Douglas-fir Mortality Complex and Cedar Flat Projects.