20,000 acres of trees in Lincoln N.F. reported dead or dying due to insect infestation.

The Otero County Commission, learning just this week that some 20,000 acres of trees in the Lincoln National Forest are dead and dying because of insect infestation, voted at a special meeting Thursday to declare a disaster and a state of emergency and vowed to begin its own assessment of the problem, the Alamogordo Daily News reported.

Commissioners were critical of the U.S. Forest Service which they said had known of the problem since 2002, but said they only learned of the extent of the problem in a Forest Service news release they obtained on Wednesday, the Daily News said.

County Administrator Martin Moore told commissioners that the most affected areas are near Cloudcroft and along the Sacramento River toward Timberon and that the infestation appears headed down the Rio Penasco, the paper reported.

Four insects in particular have been identified as the source of the problem: the tussock moth, the New Mexico fir looper, the spruce budworm and a newly identified species of looper (commonly known as the inchworm) that Moore identified as the major source of infestation, the Daily News said.

"It's gotten aggressive, and it feeds in the winter," Moore said.

Commission Chairman Doug Moore said he was first informed of the defoliation of trees about two years ago but was assured by District Ranger Frank Martinez that the infestation would not kill any trees and that a few "hard winters" would be enough to kill off the infestation, the paper reported.

But Doug Moore said the Forest Service news release commissioners saw for the first time this week warns that some 30,000 to 40,000 acres of forest could be wiped out, if not the entire forest.

Ron Hannan, land management planner for the Lincoln National Forest who attended Thursday's meeting, told commissioners that his agency has been in contact about the issue with a Sacramento working group for several years and that Commissioner Mike Nivison was a member of that group, the Daily News said. 

Nivison said the seriousness of the situation had been conveyed to the group only recently, noting that the news release was dated March 12 and that the county was unhappy that it hadn't been invited to help, the paper reported.

That release, Nivison said, apparently was in response to a resolution passed earlier this month by the Cloudcroft village board of trustees, calling on the Forest Service to address the problem, according to the Daily News.

With joint planning, County Administrator Martin Moore told commissioners, damaged areas could be thinned and dead and damaged trees could be removed.

Not only is the county concerned about increased fire danger posed by large numbers of dead trees, but also a possible adverse effect on tourism in the Sacramento Mountains, Martin Moore said.

You can see the Lincoln National Forest news release (actually dated on Feb. 15) right here:

USDA Forest Service

Lincoln National Forest

1101 New York Avenue

Alamogordo, NM 88310

Contact: Joe Garcia (505) 434-7200

GEOMETRID MOTH CAUSING TREE DEFOLIATION ON SACRAMENTO RANGER DISTRICT

Alamogordo, NM (February 15, 2007) - Caterpillars of a species of geometrid moth (Nepytia janetae), first detected in 2002, are continuing to defoliate large areas of mixed conifer forests this winter on the western portions of the Lincoln National Forest, Sacramento Ranger District. Concerns for tree losses and the potential for an increase in hazardous fuels in around communities, recreations sites, and home sites in the affected area have generated a high amount of public interest. The Lincoln National Forest is looking at a variety of strategies to address the current situation.

Two aerial over flights of the Lincoln National Forest in June and August of 2006 found over 7,000 acres of primarily National Forest, Mescalero Apache Reservation, and private lands are being impacted by the insect outbreaks. The worse defoliation damage is occurring in an area stretching from the extreme southwest portion of the Mescalero Apache Reservation south to Sunspot Observatory. In this area entire mountain sides of trees have been impacted.

The biggest area of concern is the area surrounding the Village of Cloudcroft and the Cloudcroft Recreation Area where there is a mix of private and National Forest System lands. With 14 campgrounds and picnic grounds sites, the Cloudcroft Recreation Area contains the highest concentration of developed recreational sites and use on the Lincoln National Forest. Along with an increase in hazardous fuels and posing a safety hazard to recreationists, anticipated tree mortality within the affected stands could change the forest aesthetics and desirable character of the area. Though it is hoped that some of the impacted trees will survive and re-sprout, trees that have experienced repeated and complete defoliation will most likely die.

The Lincoln National Forest, in conjunction with the Forest Service Enterprise Planning team and entomologists from Southwestern Forest Health staff in Albuquerque, is currently conducting a NEPA environmental analysis of the entire impacted area to determine what actions (i.e. salvaging dead trees and fuels reduction) should be taken to address the current situation. It is anticipated that this analysis will be completed during the fall of 2007.

As part of the Lincoln’s larger strategy for addressing this outbreak, the Forest is also requesting additional funding under its current 2007 budget for a prevention and suppression proposal within the Cloudcroft Recreation Area. If funded, the Forest plans to purchase and install Systemic Insecticide Tree Implants (ACECAP 97) in selected trees within two campgrounds in the recreation area in an attempt to reduce tree mortality and maintain the existing trees within these important sites. If shown to be effective, plans are to expand the tree implant proposal to the remaining 12 administrative sites during upcoming years.

The insect species found are native to the forests of New Mexico. Historical records show that this is not the first time that there have been defoliator problems in the Sacramento Mountains. Shortly after the creation of the Forest in 1902, an outbreak of fir looper was documented to have occurred around 1910 in the Cloudcroft vicinity. Other documented outbreaks of defoliators occurred in 1924, 1928, 1951, and 1958. The last defoliator outbreak in the area occurred in the early 1980’s.

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