Spruce Beetle

[Woodhog]

Will bark from spruce bark beetle infestations spread the beetles in the fall. Under the bark at this time when it is peeled or falls off the trees seem to have a worm stage parasite of some sort chewing away. Do these die off in the cold weather  about -5 to +2 average in our winters or do they keep chewing all winter.
If this wood is moved now will the area it is moved to be infested by something in this bark now or next spring perhaps.We are in N.S.

Thanks

[estiers]

Check out this US Forest Service publication: http://www.barkbeetles.org/spruce/sbfidl127.htm

From what I read, the cold matters not and the larva will continue to grow and thrive, so movement could indeed spread the pest

[woodtroll]

I am not an expert on the spruce bark beetle but understand pine bark beetles. If the bark is of the log or tree there is nothing to protect the larva. It also does not have cambium to eat. Plus when it warms up again it has no protection from predators. Bark beetles need to be in the cambium layer to live and go through stages. The larva do not attack trees the beetle does. Boring into them, laying eggs in the chamber. The eggs hatch and the larva eat (killing the tree) then change to beetles that can fly to the next tree. And so the cycle continues.

[nb_foresttech]

I worked last year on a research project involving the Brown Spruce Longhorn Beetle (BSLB) in Nova Scotia. During this time I spent most of my time in the field doing collection, forest health assesments and some time in the lab doing identification and rearing in a quarintine lab. We often collected log sections in N.S. and transprted them to New Brunswick where we stored them in a freezer until we had time or need to rear the beetles. We would then place the log sections in cages and do daily collection of all emergents. BSLB and several varieties of other beetles would emerge. Many beetles in northern climates will take longer than one year to emerge.
If you are in Mainland N.S. there are a lot of areas with high numbers of Spruce bark beetle, it should be noted that there are also areas that have Softwood transport restrictions to control the BSLB. Unoficially some BSLB have been caught outside the control area. Always use caution when moving wood and check regulations.

[woodtroll]

but will it spread from the bark that is peeled?

[Phorester]

Nope.  For all the reasons you've already listed.

[SwampDonkey]

From what I've been able to read on the Spruce Long Horn the quarantine is voluntary by industry players, not actually  enforced. Leaves me a bit uneasy as I see potential for a lot of sloppy volunteering. My bet is that if Irving didn't own forest land down there, it would not be based on volunteering.

There was a write up on the situation in Atlantic Forestry last winter.