here. - Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations

we S t e r n Ba l S a M Ba r k Be e t l e, Dr y o c o e t e s c o n f u s u s
Western balsam bark beetle remains active across much
of southern B.C., although 90% of the 212,570 hectares
affected occurred in the Kamloops, Okanagan, Williams
Lake, and Quesnel TSAs. Nearly all of the mortality
was classified as Trace or Light.
we S t e r n SP r u c e Bu d w o r M,
ch o r i s t o n e u r a o c c i D e n ta l i s
The total area defoliated by the western spruce budworm
fell by 25% to 455,130 hectares, due mainly to population
declines across most of the Williams Lake, Anahim
Creek, Riske Creek, and McLeese Lake areas of the
Williams Lake and Quesnel TSAs. However, defoliation
extent and severity increased significantly in the Lillooet,
Merritt, Kamloops, and Okanagan TSAs. Overall,
the area classified as moderate or severe increased from
128,400 hectares to 139,130 hectares. The most heavily
defoliated stands were in the Gold Bridge, Merritt,
Stump Lake, south Okanagan, and Boundary areas.
Defoliation from previous years was severe in many
stands scheduled for spraying in 2012, and cumulative
impacts are becoming significant. Needle mining and
budmining levels were very high throughout the Thompson
Okanagan Region in the spring of 2012, and in the
Merritt TSA and Okanagan TSA multiple larvae per
shoot were observed on many sites. Such widespread
and high density populations have not been observed
since the late 1980’s in this Region.
Severity of 2011 defoliation is evident on this shoot
where a 2 nd instar budworm larva is mining the
expanding bud, June 2012.
Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, Kamloops, B.C.
10
Western balsam bark beetle damage near
Grizzly Lake, Kamloops TSA.
Heavy defoliation in understory Douglas-fir by
western spruce budworm.
Larva about to penetrate expanding bud, June 2012.