2000 Forest Health Highlights

Oklahoma

The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Forestry Services provides forest health protection assistance to state and private land managers within the State. The State and the USDA Forest Service Forest Health Protection unit fund this program cooperatively.

Oklahoma Forest Facts

Over 20% of the State of Oklahoma is forested (about 10 million acres).

Over 90% of forested acreage in Oklahoma is privately owned. Small landowners comprise the largest group.

The Ouachita National Forest 300,000 acres provides recreational and wildlife benefits as well as timber products and jobs for hundreds of people.

Major insect and disease outbreaks have been infrequent within the forested areas of eastern Oklahoma.

While the southern pine beetle (SPB) occasionally causes problems, only minor activity was present in 2000. However, due to the stress created by drought and excessive heat in 1998 - 2000, pine engraver beetle populations remained high on southern pines.

Weather (drought and excessive heat) severely impacted Oklahoma’s forests and tree plantings in 1998 - 2000. Many trees showed silt and scorch symptoms as well as much defoliation. The extent of dieback and mortality will not be fully known until future years. A severe ice storm hit SE Oklahoma Christmas day. Widespread damage to forests occurred over some 6 million acres in 39 counties.

Gypsy moth trapping is routinely carried out in order to detect new infestations of this exotic pest. Trapping in 2000 yielded no catches.

The Oklahoma Forestry Services and USDA Forest Service

In spite of the relatively good health of Oklahoma’s forests, a variety of insects and diseases (both native and introduced), and human-caused impacts such as air pollution, continue to threaten the State’s resources. To deal with this constantly changing mix of challenges, the Oklahoma Forestry Services and the Forest Health Protection unit of the USDA Forest Service cooperate to prevent, detect, suppress and manage this multitude of threats. The partnership between the two agencies has worked for three decades to maintain and improve the health of Oklahoma’s forests.

***Forest Health Protection’s contributions (dollars) to the Oklahoma Forestry Services’ Cooperative Forest Health Program, 1998-2001.***
	1998	1999	2000	2001
Cooperative Forest Health Program	45,000	45,000	45,000	40,383

For additional information, contact:

Oklahoma Department of Agriculture
Forestry Services
2800 N Lincoln Blvd.
Oklahoma City, OK 73105

(or)

USDA Forest Service
Forest Health Protection
2500 Shreveport Highway
Pineville, LA 71360

Forest Health Highlights - 2000

Oklahoma

Oklahoma Forest Facts

The Oklahoma Forestry Services and USDA Forest Service