Growing spruce beetle populations spurs another officially recognized outbreak, hitting the Mat-Su Valley the hardest

WASILLA — Spruce beetles are only a quarter-inch long but in 2018, these tiny bugs took a huge bite out of Mat-Su Valley forests, killing about 506,000 acres of trees, according to data from the U.S. Forest Service website.

“We’re currently in a spruce beetle outbreak in Southcentral Alaska,” Jason Moan, Forest Health Program Manager for the Alaska Division of Forestry, said.

True to their name, these beetles’ primary victims were spruce trees. Their host of choice is white spruce, the hardest hit in recent years, leaving miles of red, dead trees stripped of their pines.

According to the U.S. Forest Service, nearly 558,000 acres of trees were decimated across Southcentral, primarily affecting the Mat-Su Valley and the northwestern Kenai Peninsula (48,000 acres).

The last major spruce beetle outbreak ended around 1997, closing the final chapter of the notorious “90’s Spruce Beetle Epidemic,” that killed several million acres of trees. After that, the spruce beetle populations dropped off and everything quieted down to normal, according to Moan.

The Valley may have been saved from the last outbreak but the surmounting piles of dead trees and data from various sources indicate that luck has run out.

“It’s changing the structure of the forest quickly,” Moan said.

Spruce beetles are native to Alaska so this is not a new phenomenon. He explained that these spruce beetle outbreaks are part of a “natural process” driven by a variety of factors.

“They evolved to develop in spruce,” Moan said.

He said it was that after that decade long lull, spruce beetle populations started to skyrocket in 2016, growing expediently each passing year. He said that there is still a lot more research ahead.

“At this point of the outbreak, I don’t think we can make any prediction when it will decline,” Moan said.

This outbreak has sparked yet another cause for concern and conversation for the local and federal government as well as the general public.

Anchorage and other areas are also affected by the current outbreak, totaling to about 593,000 acres of damage, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

Edward Soto, Mat-Su/Southwest Area Forester for the Alaska Division of Forestry said that many Alaskans love spruce trees and are disheartened by seeing them go as fast as they are. He said that about 25 to 30 percent of the Valley’s timber is comprised of spruce.

Spruce beetles flock to white spruce as their meal of choice with Sitka spruce as a close second, and occasionally attack black spruce. They often go for older and weekend trees for easier access than they younger, less enterable neighbors. Spruce beetles will attack other non-spruce trees on occasion but historically, that’s fairly uncommon. According to Soto, that seems to be different this time of year. He said that the beetles seemed to be attacking more non-spruce trees, acting more aggressive and less selective than usual.

Many Valley residents have likely seen the damage by now. Soto said that a fair amount of damage has been off the roadside and some of the most visually striking areas affect runs down the Parks Highway, leaving Wasilla all the way to Denali National Park.

“Most of the forest it’s still alive, it’s still green,” Soto said.

He agreed with Moan about this being a natural process and while it’s a notable point of concern that needs further action, it isn’t going to be dangerous for people or animals and does not directly correlate with forest fires.

“A majority of forest fried in the Mat-Su are manmade,” he said.

The U.S. Forest Service, Alaska Department of Natural Resources-Division of Forestry, and UAF-Cooperative Extension Service all joined forces to attack this spruce beetle outbreak.

Moan said that there is a new website, www.alaskasprucebeetle.org for the public to learn more about spruce beetles, how to remove beetles, preventive measures and other general tips relevant to this ongoing, ever evolving topic.

Moan is one of the three primary instructors working with the extension service, providing spruce beetle workshops across the state. This annual series began last year and Moan said it will be a part of their continuous and ever-changing efforts in education and outreach moving forward.