While I was watching the movie they mentioned the pine beetle...

So I googled "pine beetle infestation" and found this...

Mountain pine beetle

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Mountain pine beetle
Adult mountain pine beetle Dendroctonus ponderosae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Family:	Curculionidae
Subfamily:	Scolytinae
Genus:	Dendroctonus
Species:	D. ponderosae
Binomial name
Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, 1902

The mountain pine beetle (MPB), Dendroctonus ponderosae, is a species of bark beetle native to the forests of western North America from Mexico to central British Columbia. It has a hard black exoskeleton and measures about 5 millimeters, about the size of a grain of rice.

Mountain pine beetles inhabit pines, particularly the Ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, whitebark pine, Scots pine and limber pine. The bristlecone pine and pinyon pine are less commonly attacked. During early stages of an outbreak, attacks are limited largely to trees under stress from injury, poor site conditions, fire damage, overcrowding, root disease, or old age. As beetle populations increase, the beetles attack the largest trees in the outbreak area.

Contents 1 Tree infestations 2 Integrated Pest Management (IPM) 3 Life cycle 4 Current outbreak 5 Current legislation and other options 6 Implications for the Future 7 Effect on carbon cycle 8 Biofuel/Alternative Energy Production from Beetle Killed Trees 9 See also 10 References

[edit] Tree infestations

Pine beetles kill trees by boring through the bark into the phloem layer on which they feed and in which eggs are laid. Pioneer female beetles initiate attacks, producing pheromones which attract more beetles. The trees respond to attack by increasing their resin output to discourage or kill the beetles. Pine beetles carry blue stain fungi which, if established, will block the tree resin response. Within about 2 weeks of a beetle attack, the trees are starved to death as the phloem layer is damaged enough to cut off the flow of water and nutrients. Older trees usually succumb first. After particularly hot summers, the mountain pine beetle population can increase dramatically, deforesting large areas. After an outbreak, entire groves of trees will appear red when viewed from above. Rocky Mountain National Park has suffered recent pine beetle outbreaks.^[1]

[edit] Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

There are some natural IPM defenses against the MPB. An “anti-aggregation pheromone” may be attached to a tree in a small packet, mimicking the chemical scent given off by beetles when a tree is full of insects. It can work when beetles are not too numerous, but at some point the beetles are not deterred.^[2]

The US Forest Service tested chitosan^[3][4], a eco-friendly biopesticide, to pre-arm pine trees to defend themselves against MPB. The US Forest Service results show AgriHouse's EPA registered ODC Collodial Chitosan elicited a 40% increase in pine resin (P<0.05) id="cite_ref-4" class="reference">[5] Dr. Jim Linden, Microbiologist, Colorado State University, states that the chitosan increased resin pitch-outs push the boring pine beetle out of the tree, preventing the MPB from entering the pine tree and spreading blue stain mold.^[6]

The most effective way to manage pine beetles is to use the integrated pest management (IPM) strategy ^{[citation needed]}. This includes removing and cutting dead trees as well as thinning trees to maintain a healthy forest. Spraying is helpful in smaller scale situations where a few high value trees are to be saved. Verbenone, an anti-aggregate pheromone, can be used in smaller-scale operations when spraying is not an option.^[7]

Spraying is one of the more effective ways of protecting a pine tree from beetles. The spray is made up of Carbaryl (Sevin SL and XLR, and others), Permethrin (Astro, Dragnet and others) and, bifenthrin (Onyx). Carbaryl is considered by the EPA to likely be carcinogenic to humans. It is moderately toxic to wild birds and partially to highly toxic to aquatic organisms. Permethrin is easily metabolized in mammalian livers so is less dangerous to humans. Birds are also practically not affected by permethrin. Negative effects can be seen in aquatic ecosystems as well as very toxic to other beneficial insects. Bifenthrin is moderately dangerous to humans and mammals. Bifenthrin is slightly more toxic to birds and aquatic ecosystems than permethrin, as well as extremely toxic to other beneficial insects.^[8]

Spraying is very effective at protecting the pines but is not recommended for large-scale use due to ecological and financial reasons. Pines should be sprayed before the beetle flight in July, so May or June will yield the best results. You can spray your own trees but this requires a great deal of spraying equipment and safety equipment. A licensed applicator is highly recommended.^[8]

Verbenone is the main compound for the anti-aggregate pheromone for the mountain pine beetle. This compound is produced by 3 companies: Contech, Synergy Semiochemicals Coorp, and Hercon Environmental. Verbenone is a behavior modifying pheromone that tricks the pine beetle into believing that the tree is no longer useful to more beetles and they will leave the tree alone. Verbenone is useful in campsites and places close to creeks and rivers where spraying cannot be used. Verbenone does not kill the insects it simply pushes them away to another tree or area. It has been pretty successful in areas with low beetle populations but has not been very successful in areas with higher populations. Verbenone is only useful in small-scale operations.^[7]

Logs that are infested with beetle larva may be dealt with by burning, burying, chipping. They can also be dealt with using solar treatment.^[9] The solar treatment for killing pine beetle larva involves cutting and heating the logs containing the larva to 110 degrees F in or to kill the larva. There are 2 options when using solar treatment, with plastic and without plastic. This method takes 8 weeks and should be performed from mid April until early May, before the beetle flight. Logs with plastic cover will work better in slightly cooler climates. This method works well with a small number of logs in a high valued area.^[10]

The best and only long run defense against mountain pine beetles is to maintain a healthy forest. Cutting and thinning of overcrowded trees as well as an age and species diversification is helpful. This also helps to prevent hazardous forest fires.

[edit] Life cycle

Mountain pine beetle damage (brown trees) to pines south of Field, British Columbia, Canada.

Approximately two weeks following oviposition, pine beetles hatch as white larvae. They dig into tree bark where they spend the winter, then grow up to 7 mm long in the spring. The pupal stage ends in the late spring or early summer, and from mid-July to mid-August, the beetles leave their tunnels and fly to new trees. Female beetles release pheromones to attract males and encourage mass attacks.^[11] The lifespan of a single pine beetle is about one year.^[12]

Temperatures down to −30 °C to −40 °C (−22 °F to −40 °F) for at least several days, or at least twelve hours of −40 or lower, kills most mountain pine beetles.

[edit] Current outbreak

The current outbreak of mountain pine beetles is ten times larger than previous outbreaks.^[13] In Wyoming and Colorado in 2006 there were 1 million acres (4,000 km²) of dead trees. In 2007 it was 1,500,000 acres (6,100 km²). In 2008 it is expected to total over 2 million acres (8,100 km²).^[14] It may be the largest forest insect blight ever seen in North America.^[15] Climate change has contributed to the size and severity of the outbreak , and the outbreak itself may, with similar infestations, have significant effects on the capability of northern forests to remove greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.^[16] Huge parts of central British Columbia along with parts of the forests of Alberta have been hit badly. The recently mild winters have British Columbia's forestry officials worried because the beetles will have a devastating impact on an ecosystem which may be ill-equipped naturally to deal with it. Fortunately, if properly contained, the pine beetle can be burnt out, but such containment is prevented during cases in which the infection has towns, homes, and cities completely surrounded. A cold snap in early 2008 was hoped to have dropped the pine beetle population to more manageable levels.^[17] However, preliminary results from the summer of 2008 indicate that the cold winter was less successful at killing pine beetle than predicted.

As of 2008, there was also a large outbreak in Colorado. The largest problem in the eradication of the beetle is that homes in the area are close to the infected trees, so that a controlled burn could be problematic. Furthermore, since the trees that are being hit are older and the Ponderosa Pines affected are stimulated to spread seeds by heat of around 130 degrees from either fire or solar radiation much forest will die before it is renewed.

A lodgepole pine tree with a pitch tube.

A lodgepole pine tree infested by the mountain pine beetle, with visible pitch tubes.

Invaded pine tree forest on the slopes of Chancellor Peak in Yoho National Park, Canada

A pine tree forest north of Breckenridge, CO showing infestation in 2008. Currently, over 15 million hectares are either infected or distroyed by the mountain pine beetle.