Forest Health Management: Southern Pine Beetle on Prudence Island

🌲 A tiny beetle is threatening Rhode Island’s pitch pine forests, but DEM and Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve scientists are working to protect them.

The Southern Pine Beetle, a destructive pest native to the southeastern US, has been making its way north and attacking pitch pine forests.

DEM’s Forest Health Program and partners from URI Biocontrol have been monitoring these beetles in Rhode Island for over a decade. When traps showed an increase on Prudence Island, the team moved quickly, using U.S. Forest Service forest management practices to thin out unhealthy and infected trees to stop the spread and help healthy trees resist the beetles.
Managing the southern pine beetle isn't just about removing infested trees; it's also about disrupting the chemical signals beetles use to attract other beetles, making it harder for outbreaks to spread and giving healthy trees a better chance to survive.

This project between DEM and NBNERR is part of ongoing forest management on Prudence Island, which also includes reducing the risk of wildfire and removing hazardous trees.

Careful, science-based forest management helps protect this unique habitat and the wildlife that depend on it for the future.

Видео Forest Health Management: Southern Pine Beetle on Prudence Island канала RI Department Of Environmental Management