Southern Pine Beetle Prevention Program

	Annie Williams (right; see Success Story) and others attend field-based class about southern pine beetle and healthy forest management taught by the Mississippi State Extension Service and sponsored by Forest Health Protection.

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One Million Acres Protected

New Kent County, VA – On October 28, officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Virginia Department of Forestry will gather with local landowners, consulting foresters, and private loggers on private forest land in New Kent County, VA, to celebrate the one millionth acre of land protected from southern pine beetle through the USDA Forest Service Southern Pine Beetle (SPB) Prevention Program. SPB is the most economically important forest pest in the southern United States, causing an estimated $1.5 billion in damage in recent years.

Background

During major outbreaks, the Southern Pine beetle (SPB) severely impacts the region’s tourism and wood-based industries, and also negatively impacts watersheds and wildlife habitat, most notably that of the red-cockaded woodpecker. The SPB Prevention Program is a cornerstone piece to the Southern Region Forest Health Protection’s efforts to institute a comprehensive and integrated approach for preventing and reducing the impacts of SPB on federal, state, and private forests. The SPB Prevention Program was developed, at the request of Congress, after the last SPB outbreak impacted nearly one million acres of forest land in eight states and caused an estimated $1.5 billion of damage. The prevention strategy has been developed and implemented in close cooperation and integration with 12 National Forests and 13 Southern States. The million acres treated represents more than 13,000 landowners who have participated in cost-share programs and hundreds of loggers who have taken part in a logger incentive program. The logger incentive program is an innovative approach that was developed to help target smaller-acreage tracts and to save and restore jobs in the rural-based logging industry that has been struggling to survive the last several years. Since the SPB Prevention Program started in 2003, there has not been a major SPB outbreak, which has allowed for a single focus on prevention work instead of suppression activities. The SPB Prevention Program is a successful model upon which to develop future proactive forest health strategies that can be applied across large geographic areas and among many different cooperators and stakeholders.

USDA Forest Service - Forest Health Protection, Southern Region
Last Modified: Tuesday, 08 November 2011 at 12:06:15 EST