Integrated Pest Management in Southern Pine Forests

R.C. Thatcher - Program Manager, Integrated Pest Management RD&A Program for Bark Beetles of Southern Pines, Pineville, LA.,
G.N. Mason - Project Leader, Silvicultural Options for Gypsy Moth, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, Morgantown, WV, and
G.D. Hertel - Program Manager for Gypsy Moth Research, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, Broomall, PA.
Mason and Hertel were Research Coordinator and Applications Coordinator for the IPM Program when this work was conducted.

Integrated Pest Management Handbook, USDA, Forest Service, Agriculture Handbook 650, April 1986.

In 1980, the Forest Service and the Cooperative State Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture initiated the Integrated Pest Management Research, Development, and Applications Program for Bark Beetles of Southern Pines. This research/applications effort concentrates on pine bark beetles and associated tree diseases in the South. This is one in a series of Integrated Pest Management handbooks.

Components of Integrated Pest Management

A generalized view of the components of IPM and how they fit into forest resource management is depicted in figure 1. The figure conceptualizes the total forest and includes forest management and pest management as a part of total resource management. Resource management includes forest- and pest-directed treatment strategies and methods for monitoring and predicting changes in forest conditions and pest populations. These prediction, treatment, and monitoring strategies are developed from knowledge gained through research and development activities, on-the-ground experience, and familiarity with management practices and constraints. The basic IPM components that affect forest management include (a) pest populations and how they change over time, (b) forest stands – their susceptibility and suitability to pests and how these change over time, (c) pest impacts on resource values and management objectives, and (d) control strategies and resource utilization. The latter two

Figure 1 – Components of an integrated
pest management system and incorporation
of pest management into total forest
resource management.

components are, in turn, used in benefit/cost determination or some other method of management or action decisionmaking. Technologies developed for each of these four components are combined in pest management tactics and strategies that can be incorporated into overall forest management plans and operations.

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