bark beetles, more numerous, threaten the forest

Ravaged by flames and eaten away from within. In the bark of the trees, a pest lurks. “It’s a race against time, in relation to the health risk“, declares Loïc Cotten, forester. This forester must cut down 150 hectares of pines, infested by the bark beetle. Tracked by these agents, this beetle of a few millimeters digs galleries and prevents the circulation of the sap, fatal damage for the trees. “The piles of wood must be evacuated within a strict period of four weeks, before the bark beetles can come out”says Sygrid Launes, head of the DRAAF Forest Health department.

Mobile app

An endemic species, the bark beetle has multiplied since the fires last summer. In the south of the Gironde, pheromone traps are deployed to scrutinize the evolution of the insect. To stem the crisis, all foresters in the sector are being called upon. Thanks to a mobile application, they can report the presence of the bark beetle in one click. Heat and drought favor the development of the parasite.