The Pine Bark Beetle Battle Chronicle

The fight is on to save as many pine trees as possible in the ” Black Hills” of South Dakota. Rather than complain about nature and the way it works, we have found the simple solution is to accept whats  happening and make the best of it.

The pine bark beetle has been around for a long time, and has been a problem in the west but not as bad as it is now in South Dakota. Quite simply, the pine beetle lays its eggs under the bark and they develop into rice size wood chomping machines releasing a chemical  that disrupts the trees capillary flow. The tree is unable to nourish itself and starts to try to fight the invaders. It emits a white substance that is visible on the bark, a sure sign that the tree is in trouble. Later , the pine needles turn brown and the tree is dead… In August, the pine beetles hatch out and go on to infect other trees.

The solution to stop the spread is to cut the trees down before March first and chunk them into two foot lengths. This will dry out the wood and hopefully kill the beetle larvae.

We cut down 45 trees on our property, our neighbor cut 95 and had the work done by a contractor who chunked everything up and hauled it away.

Our answer to the problem was to cut and then debark all the trees. The Irish in me would not allow the cutting up of good trees for firewood. There were some old growth pine and enough medium size trees cut to allow the possibility of constructing a Japanese style Yoga/Pilates  pavilion, once the wood is seasoned. We have been offered trees from other neighbors allowing us to build on the cheap, the only cost being gas and labor, a used tractor @$2,000 that  i had planned to buy anyway. Some hand tools, peavey, adze and a broad ax all for around $160.00. Already own a Stahl 18 chain saw, used logging chains, hooks and a few other incidentals complete the list for now.

We have just a little short of four acres, and still have a good stand of pine and aspen. We will I am sure loose more trees in the future, thinning is ongoing  and the planting of Spruce and other yet to be decided trees are in the plans. Being at 5,500 feet limits what will grow so, not a problem, we go with what works…

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