Evaluation
Strong winds and rains raged in Lithuania on August 6-7 this year. In some regions of the country, the elements have reached the level of storms and squalls. She broke and felled trees in forests, parks, roadsides, and settlements. The Northern and Western regions were the most affected. The State Forestry Service invites forest owners to inspect their forests and promptly start managing wind-damaged trees in them.
Unmanaged wood deteriorates and becomes a source of reproduction and spread of dangerous tree trunk pests to surrounding stands. The most dangerous of these is the bark-boring typographer, which is now active and can inhabit wind-broken and uprooted spruce trees. Eggs will be laid in them, and a new generation of the pest will develop from them.
According to a preliminary assessment, about 50 thousand m3 of trees were damaged in the forests. The forests of Joniškis district were the most affected. Šiauliai, Panevėžys, Pakruoj, Radviliškis, Jonava, Širvintės, Ukmergė, Trakai, Vilnius, etc. are less affected. district forests.
Forest sanitary protection specialists of the State Forest Service note that in 2021-2023 in summers, the country’s forests suffered from very hot weather. As a result, the firs became weaker and could no longer defend themselves against pest attacks. On the contrary, droughts and heat were favorable for the rapid reproduction and spread of bark beetles in spruce trees. Therefore, the growth of the bark beetle typographer population and the increase in damage caused by it have been observed. Due to the severe drying of fir trees, from 2023. August 4 A natural disaster has been declared in the municipalities of Rokiškis, Šalčininkai, Trakai and Vilnius.
The bark beetle typographer is the most dangerous pest of our forests. Lives under the bark of green firs along the entire length of the tree trunk. By gnawing the paths in the bark, it damages the vital tissues, so the fir trees quickly dry out. Adult beetles are 4.2-5.5 mm long and dark brown or black in color. Can reproduce abundantly and quickly spread in stands. 2 main and 1-2 sister generations develop every year.
The bark-boring typographer primarily attacks fir trees damaged by wind and greatly weakened by drought. They reproduce and then a mass attack can attack completely healthy trees, forming long-term foci of mass reproduction in spruce trees. The older the fir trees are, the less resistant they are to bark beetle attacks.
In order to reduce the damage caused by bark beetles to fir trees, it is necessary to monitor stands of 50 years and older and remove fallen, broken or severely damaged fir trees before bark beetle beetles have settled in them. If bark beetles have already settled under the bark, then it is necessary to remove the spruce from the forest before the young generation of bark beetle typographer beetles grows up, that is, until the first pupae are formed.
The foci of mass reproduction of the Žievėraužis typographer first begin to form in characteristic areas of spruce trees, so you need to start scouting from them:
where there are unkempt green upturned or broken fir trees, or where trees attacked by bark beetles have remained unkempt since autumn; due to damage to the typographer of the bark beetle, sanitary fellings have already been carried out; edges of clear-cut forest clearings; sparse spruces of low density; fir trees, which contained wood warehouses with conifer wood that was not removed in time. Now the soils are dry, so it is a very good time to deal with damaged stands. There will be little damage to the soil, the environment and forest dwellers will be disturbed. If we promptly remove broken, overturned, pest-infested or drying trees from the forest, it will be an effective preventive measure to reduce the spread of bark beetles in forests. It is very important to carry it out constantly and in a timely manner in Eglynai.
The State Forestry Service urges forest owners to take care of their forests and maintain them properly.
If you have questions about what measures should be applied in forests damaged by wind and other factors, you can consult with the specialists of the Forestry Supervision and Forest Sanitary Protection Departments of the State Forestry Service. You can find the contacts on the website www.amvmt.lt in the contact section.
Information of the State Forestry Service
