[Corner Brook, NL]—The weather has not been co-operative, but the provincial (Newfoundland & Labrador) insect control program is hoping to spray all of the forest blocks on its list by the end of this month.
This summer’s spray program is concentrating on the eastern spruce budworm in the Goose Bay area of Labrador and on the hemlock looper on the island portion.
The job has actually been finished in Labrador, where about 13,440 hectares were treated to slow the progress of the spruce budworm in late June.
The three planes which were used to treat those blocks in Goose Bay have since transferred to the Port Saunders area, where they have begun spraying for the hemlock looper. Around 11,000 hectares of forest around River of Ponds and the Batteau Barrens area are now undergoing treatment.
The largest area affected by the hemlock looper is on the Baie Verte Peninsula. Three more spray planes situated at the Springdale airstrip started to treat the first blocks of about 20,600 hectares in that region this week (July 12).
“The weather has been terrible so far,” Eric Young, director of forest engineering and industry services with the Department of Natural Resources, said.
“If it’s not been windy, it’s been raining. Sometimes, it’s both and we can’t spray in either of those conditions.”
Anything more than a slight breeze can blow the sprayed treatment off course, while rain any time up to 24 hours after spraying will wash the substance off the tree needles and defeat its purpose.
“If we can get some half decent weather, we can treat the majority of the areas we have left in a few days,” said Young.
The hemlock looper larvae are now at a prime stage to be treated, but the six-plane fleet is only available until the end of the month.
The three planes currently working on the Northern Peninsula will eventually transfer to Deer Lake, the base from which they will assess and hopefully treat an additional 7,800 hectares in the Sop’s Arm area of White Bay.
Both the spruce budworm and the hemlock looper are treated with Btk, a naturally occurring bacteria.
The department has chosen not to spray for a third forest pest this year, although it has sprayed to thwart the balsam fir sawfly in years past. This insect’s decade-long infestation of western Newfoundland has advanced in a northwestern direction and is now on the border of Gros Morne National Park. Young said the Bonne Bay area where the sawfly is currently hitting hardest, will be harvested by Corner Brook Pulp and Paper in the coming years and, since the sawfly does not kill trees, those stands will remain suitable for harvesting.
Given the tree’s growth is set back for six or seven years before it rebounds, Young doubts Parks Canada will bother to spray for the sawfly once the pest hits Gros Morne National Park in the coming summers.
“It’s hard to guess where it’s going, but it does look like it will move into the park in the next year or so,” he said. “It will be their decision if they want to protect for sawfly, but I doubt they will since it doesn’t kill the tree ... The good news is that it looks like it might die out when it hits the salt water (bordering the timber stands on the western coast of Newfoundland).”
There is a fourth pest which actually cannot be dealt with simply because there is no treatment available for it. The effects of the spruce beetle, which bores into the tree’s bark and eventually kills it, can be seen by the dead and dying mature white spruce stands along the Humber Valley in particular.
“It’s a concern, but there is very little we can do with it,” Young said of the spruce beetle.
Anyone who would like information about spraying activity can call toll-free at 1-877-636-2996, with voice mail messages left after 4 p.m.
Additional information about the 2010 forest insect control program is available on the Department of Natural Resources website at www.nr.gov.nl.ca/nr.
The Western Star
