GREAT FALLS – The number of acres of pine forest in Montana infested with the mountain pine beetle nearly doubled in 2009, but a forester says the epidemic is losing steam in some areas.
Pine beetles had infested 1.2 million acres of forest in 2008 and 2.7 million acres in 2009, based on aerial surveys.
Gregg DeNitto is group leader for forest health protection for the U.S. Forest Service’s Region 1 in Missoula. He says elevated levels of pine beetle are likely for five to seven more years.
DeNitto says unless the pine beetles are killed off by some significant weather event, like an extremely cold winter, the outbreak will continue until most of the susceptible trees in the area have been killed.
Most of the outbreak has occurred in forests near Butte, Anaconda and Helena.