This piece is an extract from our Latest from the Woods newsletter (previously Forestry Latest News), which is emailed out at 4PM every Friday with a round-up of the week's top stories.
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ANOTHER week, another beetle-related bad news story.
Fresh from the concerning revelation that Ips typographus has made its way onto Sitka spruce, it has emerged that Ips cembrae beetles were found in an Irish port on timber imported from Scotland. Such is the seriousness of the situation that an indefinite ban has been placed on the movement of conifer wood from parts of Scotland's west coast.
“Ireland is free of many of the bark beetles that are found in Europe and in Great Britain," boasted Senator Pippa Hackett, Ireland's agriculture minister. "It is very important for the future of the forestry sector in Ireland that we do everything we can to keep the island free of these beetles.
”My department has a clear plant health and biosecurity strategy and has built up a strong multi-disciplinary plant health team. These findings demonstrate the importance and effectiveness of our surveillance work at ports.”
The speediness with which Irish officials acted won't surprise many. This is not even the first time this year they have been quick to place restrictions on timber imports.
Back in February, similar "preventative action" was taken on spruce logs after Scottish Forestry chiefs admitted they could no longer be certain Dendroctonus micans (the great spruce bark beetle) was not within the Pest Free Area (PFA).
The PFA is up the West Coast of Scotland from the Mull of Kintyre, Mull, and through to Fort William and over to the Isle of Skye.
Commonly known as the large larch bark beetle, Ips cembrae has been found throughout areas of mainland Europe and was first identified in the PFA in 2022.
It bores into larch trees which in turn can have a damaging effect on the quality and volumes of timber. In very rare cases it can be found on other species.
However, just how serious is the pest? A blog on Forest Research sheds some light.
"Within both its natural and introduced range (mainland UK, Netherlands, and Sweden), the beetle is usually a secondary pest that attacks trees already weakened by contributory stress factors, e.g. environmental stress or damage by other pests and diseases.
"It is, therefore, a much less damaging pest than the closely related Spruce bark beetle, I. typographus, and the risk presented to the quarantine areas is much lower.
"Nevertheless, if there is an abundance of suitable breeding material, enabling a substantial increase in the population size, then attack of live standing trees can occur.
"Suitable breeding material includes recently felled logs, windthrown stems, and dying trees, and therefore fresh thinning residues and storm-damaged trees increase the risk posed by the beetle."
If anything comes from this, it's another reminder of just how vital it is that we manage our woodlands.
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