The U.S. Forest Service announced Tuesday that it is seeking to contract saw crews to fell trees as part of the efforts to control or stop Southern pine beetle infestations that threaten tens of thousands of acres of pine forests in four national forests in Mississippi. Meantime, the Mississippi Forestry Commission said that nearly 250 infestations of the pest have been detected during flyovers on private land in 15 counties that comprise and border national forests.
The Forest Service crews include about 50 hand sawyers, who cut the beetle-infested trees with chainsaws to slow or stop the spread of the pests. The Forest Service is looking for both mechanical and hand-cutting crews. Mechanical crews use heavy equipment and are able to cut more timber in a safer manner.
The beetle outbreak, characterized as “unprecedented” by Forest Service scientists, includes nearly 4,000 spots of infestation on the Homochitto, Bienville, Tombigbee and Holly Springs national forests. To date, the Forest Service has cut 375 spots that make up about 1,374 acres. The preferred method is to cut and remove the diseased trees, but “because of the markets and weather, cut and remove has not been available as an option,” the release stated.
Mario Rossilli, spokesman for the Forest Service headquarters in Jackson, said in an interview that the agency is looking for markets so it can “move this stuff out.” As things stand now, that “inventory” is more than 50,000 truckloads, Rossilli said.
The Southern pine beetle is the most destructive forest pest in the region, both in economic and ecological impacts.
From Mississippi Business Journal: https://msbusiness.com/2017/08/cutting-crews-sought-effort-stop-spread-pine-beetles/