In an exclusive interview, the forestry official responsible for eradicating Ips typographus addresses the spruce planting ban in south-east England and her belief that the UK is ‘heading in the right direction’ when it comes to the pest.
THE UK is “heading in the right direction” when it comes to eradicating Ips typographus, the forestry official responsible for tackling the pest has said.
Andrea Deol, who heads up efforts to wipe out the potentially devastating beetle, believes the current approach is “effective”, with previous outbreaks of the insect pest having been quelled by the Forestry Commission and its partners.
Since arriving on British shores in 2018, Ips – also known as the eight-toothed spruce bark beetle – has slowly spread up the south-east coast of England and been identified in one-off cases in both Wales and Scotland. While its impact has been limited in the UK so far, it has had a devastating effect on many plantations in mainland Europe, with foresters concerned about the havoc it could wreak on the commercial side of the sector should its numbers multiply.
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Speaking to Forestry Journal about the FC’s Ips approach and recent moves to ban the planting of spruce in some areas of England, Andrea, its head of plant health, forestry, said: “We first detected Ips in 2018 [in Kent]. Since then, we have had a number of outbreaks and have to look at our success in terms of dealing with those outbreaks.
“We are having an impact. We are being successful in eradicating the beetle from those sites where we are finding it.
“We are heading in the right direction. It is about us working together and working in collaboration.
“Landowners need to be vigilant and report any concerns to us. At the moment the approach that we are taking is effective. It’s about continuing to look at the evidence and feeding that in all the time.”
In recent years, the FC has taken a range of measures to eradicate the pest, including setting up (and subsequently extending on several occasions, most recently in the summer) a demarcated area (DMA) with restrictions on timber movement and felling, establishing an extensive trap network to monitor its movement, and carrying out pre-emptive felling of susceptible species, including Norway spruce.
However, things came to a head when the government agency took the unexpected step of banning the commercial planting of spruce in large swathes of the South East and East Anglia. Picea A. Dietr is far from a dominant species in the DMA (mainly due to its unsuitability to current and future climate conditions), with the FC believing just one per cent of the UK’s total spruce supply comes from it.
“We were crunching some numbers and, roughly speaking, around about 40 hectares of conifer were planted in the area last year and spruce would only be a subcomponent of that,” Andrea said. “That’s also reflected in the conversations we have had with industry and landowners.
“We have heard from a lot of sources that the sector is moving away from the planting of spruce in the DMA even before we introduced the planting prohibitions as they recognise the challenges of Ips typographus.”
Spruce planting is still permitted in some circumstances – such as for Christmas tree growing or in a nursery setting – but these came under their own fresh restrictions in October. The move was broadly welcomed by forestry figures, who said it should give the industry a “fighting chance” of beating Ips.
And for Andrea, it is all part of the FC’s “evidence-based approach” in tackling the pest, which was recently identified as having attacked Sitka spruce for the first time, which could have serious ramifications for commercial forestry should the beetle spread further north.
“When we are talking about management of Ips, it’s really important to understand that it is all based on assessment and risk, informed by evidence,” Andrea said. “From a Forestry Commission perspective, we have a robust management programme in place, and that involves core components: research and evidence, which is growing all the time, looking at spread modelling and dispersal.
“We have a comprehensive surveillance programme. We have traps across GB that give us the basis to understand what might be coming in. All of what we are dealing with now is because the population of Ips typographus has built up significantly in Europe. We are seeing blow-over from continental Europe of these beetles; those traps provide and early indication and warning of what might be coming and when.
“We use on-the-ground and aerial surveillance. Then we have the management programme. This is all designed to eradicate what are, in most cases, small pioneer populations of beetles that have come in through blow-over incursions. That allows us to take robust action.
“This is all designed to protect our critical forest resource that we have within the UK.”
When asked what the ‘tipping point’ was that led to the spruce planting ban, Andrea said: “The demarcated area is the area in which we have restrictions in place, informed by our assessments of risk. Generally, it is the highest-risk area. We continue to monitor and assess this.
“As part of this, we have to look at longer-term strategy, too. We are working to encourage landowners to remove the spruce resource within the DMA. Longer term, we need to think about how we can mitigate those risks.
“The prohibition on planting is all designed to work in that holistic way. It is taking action against what we are currently dealing with as well as thinking long term to safeguard the forest resource.”
Four key questions
Will any applications that have already been approved and include spruce in the DMA be fulfilled?
“Anyone who has had an agreement in place that contains spruce prior to the introduction of the prohibition needs to speak to the Forestry Commission. We will talk to them and discuss other suitable alternatives.”
What alternative species would you recommend?
“We have to look at a whole host of different factors. You will probably forgive me when I don’t name a particular species because there are just a range of factors to consider. We’d point people towards their woodland officer and to look at the different guidance available, to look at the climate hub on the Forest Research website.”
What does the future hold for commercial conifer planting in southern England?
“In terms of the prohibitions we have introduced in the DMA, they are in response to specific risks associated with Ips typographus. More broadly, we know our trees are facing a range of pressures. We have to think about ways in which we can adapt our woodlands and our planting choices to increase the diversity.
“There are a variety of ways in which this can be achieved. It’s about looking at the objectives of the site and the location’s characteristics.
“From an Ips perspective, we would really encourage landowners to work with us to help support the efforts we are making. It is really a collaborative thing.
“We would encourage landowners to be vigilant, to take early action, particularly around removing materials that might be susceptible to the beetle. If you are worried about anything, please report it to us via the Tree Alert app. Early indication maximises our chances of eradicating it.”
Given Ips is arriving directly from the continent (the ‘blow-over’ theory), is it even possible to prevent future outbreaks?
“It is all to do with population dynamics that we see on the continent. It has gotten to pandemic levels in continental Europe, which is leading to the incursions here. That will die off once there isn’t the material to sustain those beetles. What we are dealing with now is high population levels and the incursion risks.
“We take a very robust approach. Our primary objective is eradication. We are working hard to eradicate those and are continuing to do a lot of work looking at dispersal modelling. We will take action and we will adapt.
“The greatest incursion risk is within the DMA. We have a network of traps across the whole of GB; it’s a really comprehensive programme. If we are alerted to the beetles outside of the DMA, we take a really robust approach.
“There have been findings outside of the DMA – in Wales and also in Scotland – this is why doing research around dispersal modelling is really important for us to understand where the risk might be. But I have to stress the highest risk is within the DMA.
“A beetle needs to come in, be carried on the wind, find a suitable host material and then breed on that material. A lot of those beetles being blown over will naturally die off.”
For more information on Ips typographus and advice, visit the following links:
Forest Research Climate Change Hub: www.forestresearch.gov.uk/climate-change/risks/pests-and-diseases/biosecurity/
Ecological Site Classification tool: www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/fthr/ecological-site-classification/
Beat the Beetle video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG_x01T5FK8
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