An Aerial Observer's Guide to Recognizing and Reporting Southern Pine Beetle Spots

Southern Pine Beetle Handbook

United States Department of Agriculture, Combined Forest Pest Research and Development Program, Southern Pine Beetle Handbook, Agriculture Handbook No. 560 - Issued April 1980

Updating Flight Maps

To keep current on SPB spots in your area, you must frequently update flight maps. Use the same set of maps or photos for all aerial surveys in a given year. This reduces the chance that a spot will go unreported or be reported more than once. Before each flight, note on your aerial map SPB spots reported by ground crews as inactive or controlled. The notation prepares you for spotting breakouts.

A suggested system for recording spots and updating SPB flight maps is given in table 2. To use this system, draw a small circle around each new spot on your map. Use a different colored pencil for each survey flight. As new information comes in, alter the circle to indicate the current status of each spot.

Table 2. - Suggested symbols to use on SPB flight maps

Source of information	Symbol1	Description
Initial aerial survey		New spot with 20 trees and priority 1 for ground check (color indicates date of flight)
Ground check information		Spot found to be inactive upon ground check (use to update flight maps prior to next flight)
Control information		Spot controlled since last flight (use to update flight maps prior to next flight)
Follow-up flight		Previously seen spot that appears to be inactive from air with bare trees or red crowns or both, but no yellow crowns
Follow-up flight		Controlled spot that is observed from air to have a breakout with 20 active trees
Follow-up flight		Previously seen spot updated from 10 to 100 active trees and priority 4 to priority 1

¹ Some organizations prefer to use a square symbol to indicate that a spot's location may not be accurately plotted.

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