– For many forest owners with spruce forests, it would be a disaster if it turns out to be as dry and hot a summer as 2018. Then we risk facing a new extensive wave of bark beetles, says Mattias Sparf, expert on spruce bark beetles at the Norwegian Forestry Agency.
Several thousand spruce bark beetles have been caught by the Norwegian Forestry Agency’s and forestry’s monitoring traps, which shows that swarming is underway in the southern parts of the country.
32 million cubic meters of dead firs
– When the spruce bark beetles swarm, it is important to be on your toes as a forest owner so that new infestations can be detected at an early stage. If we cut down the infested firs early, we get the best effect and can save most of the timber value, says Magnus Sääf, forest manager at Mellanskog.
Around 32 million cubic meters of spruce have been killed by the spruce bark borer since the record dry summer of 2018. The dead trees are estimated to be worth around SEK 14 billion.
CUT: That’s why the spruce bark borer makes so many headlines
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