Our Douglas-fir Beetle Project and Practices

A little bit about our ongoing Douglas-fir beetle project and the forest management practices we use to better understand the impact these beetles have in our Creston Valley area:

The Douglas-fir beetle (Dendroctonus pseudotsugae) is a native bark beetle in British Columbia.

Mature, unhealthy and stressed-out Douglas-fir trees act as a primary host. Due to the impacts of climate change: less snow, earlier spring weather, the extreme heat during our summers and wildfires, we are seeing an increase in beetle populations.

These beetles typically do two flights per year in the Creston Valley, the first flight occurs in late April to early June, while the second flight occurs between July and August. During these flights, the beetles are looking for susceptive hosts to feed off and lay their larvae into, further increasing their populations.

To mitigate the impacts of Douglas-fir beetle, the Creston Community Forest has developed forest health management practices that utilize funnel traps.

These traps contain a bait which uses pheromones to attract and isolate the beetles, meanwhile the surrounding forest area is protected by an additional pheromone (MCH) which causes the beetles to ‘overlook’ the trees and target the traps where they are collected and measured.

We collect the beetles to further our understanding of beetle flight dynamics and present populations and to contribute to further adaptive management practices. Our project is ongoing in the valley.

We have 11 trap site locations planned throughout our operating area this season and we ask that the public do not disturb this important project.