October, '21] jaenicke: forest insect problems 449 



such a plan Avell under wa}', and in other parts of the Pacific Slope the 

 initial outlinino: of control units of both private and government pine 

 forests has already been completed. 



Perhaps a single instance of the tremendous loss which the western 

 pine beetle {Dendroctomts brevicomis) can inflict on the yellow pine of this 

 region will suffice. One of the finest bodies of western yellow pine in the 

 West is located in southern Oregon in the vicinity of Klam.ath Falls. 

 It is a privately owned body of timber covering an acreage of about 

 600,000 acres and a volume of at least ten billion feet. Thirty million 

 dollars is a conserv^ative valuation of this property. During the past 

 ten years the forest fire loss on this area amounted to only $15,000 be- 

 cause of the efficacy of the fire protection plan. During this same ten 

 year period there has been a $3,000,000 loss for which the west- 

 tern pine beetle has been entirely responsible. In other words, 

 during the last ten years the western pine beetle has killed ten 

 per cent of the stand. This killing is still going on. A few of the 

 private owners have attempted to control the beetle on their own lands 

 but their work was futile because of the indifterence of the owners of 

 neighboring timber. Oregon has recenth' put a compulsory forest 

 insect control law on its statute books and so the way has been paved to 

 force the indifferent and careless timber owner into line. This partic- 

 ular bod\- of privately owned yellow pine timber is surrounded by feder- 

 ally owned forests which are infested to the same degree as t.he private 

 timber. As a consequence an effective control campaign must provide 

 for the reduction of the beetle on the private and government lands 

 simultaneously. An emergency appropriation bill has recently been 

 introduced in both Houses of Congress which provides for the appro- 

 priation of the S150,000 which is deemed necessarv^ for the wiping out of 

 the beetle m.enace on the federal lands. 



In British Colum.bia, the Dendroctonous infestations are being fought 

 on a large scale on provincial, crown and grant lands. The timber own- 

 ers of Oregon and California are becoming fully alert to the beetle 

 danger. And it is probable that within the next few years. Congress 

 will provide more money to enable those responsible for the protection of 

 federal timber to fight the Dendroctonus epidemics in co-operation with 

 the private owners. In the meantime, the splendid investigative work of 

 the Bureau of Entomology on these forest insect problems must be financed 

 on a better basis. Its handful of forest entomologists in the West have 

 had the three-fold responsibility of giving advice in the field to timber 

 owners and government officers, carrying on insect surveys over large 

 areas and keeping under way their investigative work. Improvements 



