More than 10,000 tareas (6,290,000 m2) of the nation’s National Forests are under attack by a well-known enemy: the bark beetle commonly known as the six-spined engraver beetle (Ips calligraphus).
The Ministry of the Environment has created a task force to deal with the problem. Manuel Serrano, the deputy minister for Forest Resources, told reporters that the task force will have to come up with the necessary procedures to control the outbreak. There are no known pesticides that will kill the beetle that nests inside the bark of the trees, breeding and feeding on the sap. The trees end up being commercially useless.
Serrano called upon residents of the areas of San Jose de las Matas, Moncion and Santiago Rodriguez to plant trees when the rains come, saying that establishing pest-free stocks is a long-term strategy to combat the beetle.
In the short term, newly cut wood, shavings and even sawdust should be removed as quickly as possible, since the smell of newly cut pine serves as an attraction for the beetle. According to the literature, the plague can be eradicated by piping sounds of competing beetle species into the area of infestation. Apparently this crazes the engraver beetle and they devour each other. However, prevention methods and replanting of healthy forests are more economical in the short and long term.
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El Dia
28 January 2019
