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.

Conclusions

This dynamic characteristics of southern pine forests and the pests that affect them have dictated that effective integrated pest management systems be developed and implemented if long-term management goals are to be achieved. But to be useful in forestry, IPM approaches must fully harmonize with and be incorporated into overall resource management. An effective approach requires an understanding of the IPM concept and how it applies to resource management planning and operations.

The one intrinsic quality of any system is its interdependence: how the parts fit into the total picture. In the forest system, pest management is clearly interdependent with the whole process of tree growth and development from seedling to harvest; and, to be of value, protection from pest must be a basic consideration in each phase of that process. This interdependence makes it necessary to give great emphasis to early detection, priority setting, loss prediction, and impact assessment. Recent advances in experimental and operational technology in these areas have provided the means to assure the ultimate benefits from pursuing an integrated pest management approach in southern pine forests.

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