Southern Pine Beetle: What a Tree Farmer needs to know

We know that invasive species are a concern for our Tree Farmers across the country so we have developed a webinar series to address some of the more common invasive species.  For the first webinar, we are happy to join with the US Forest Service’s Southern Research Station to present:

Southern Pine Beetle: What a Tree Farmer needs to know

This webinar was presented on August 24th, 2011.  The powerpoint presentation slides and a recording of the webinar are now available.  This webinar covered:

• biology of the southern pine beetle
• its interactions with host pine trees
• methods of tree protection
• preventing Southern Pine Beetle outbreaks
• mitigating potential losses through proper forest management activities
• methods used to suppress and reduce impact of existing infestations
• options for landowner assistance

During the webinar, John Nowak showed a graph on thinning that can be found in the Are My Pine Trees Ready to Thin? publication.

The presenters for this webinar were:

Kier Klepzig

Kier is the Assistant Director of the Southern Research Station, USDA Forest Service in Asheville, NC.  Kier has over 20 years of research experience on bark beetles and their interactions with fungi and trees.  Kier received his MS and PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was formerly the project leader of the southern pine beetle research work unit in Pineville, LA.

John Nowak
John is the Regional Manager of the Southern Pine Beetle Prevention Program, Forest Health Protection, USDA Forest Service, Asheville, NC.  John has 15 years of management and applied experience on bark beetle prevention through use of proper silvicultural practices.  John received a B.S. degree in Forestry from University of Florida and MS and PhD in Forest Entomology from University of Georgia.

Bud Mayfield
Bud is a Research Entomologist with the USDA Forest Service, Southern Reserach Station in Asheville, NC. He spent 7 years as the forest entomologist for the Florida Division of Forestry, interacting regularly with tree farmers and other forest landowners about bark beetle management. Bud earned his BS, MS and PhD degrees at Yale University, West Virginia University, and State University of New York, respectively.