Long Term Protection
BSOA Special Projects » Tree Pests » Long Term Protection
What to do over the long term to protect the trees on your property:
The key to protecting trees from pests is to keep them healthy. Maintaining a healthy forest provides the best natural defense for preventing or reducing the severity of Western Spruce Budworm and Mountain Pine Beetle attack. The best action you can take to protect the health of your backyard forest is to contract with a consultant forester and work with them to develop and implement a forest management plan. Healthy trees need water and sunlight, as well as diverse habitat to ward off pests. Irrigating a forest during drought is obviously not possible, but reducing the number of trees competing for limited resources is. Thinning trees to an approximate 15x15 foot spacing dramatically increases a pine's ability to survive beetle attacks. Other actions include clearing dead fall, cutting snags, limbing trees, and if feasible, planting non-host species such as hardwoods. Effective forest management can cost $1,000- $2,000 per acre.