An overview of University of Alaska Anchorage, ENRI research on the spruce bark beetle infestation, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, 1997-2002

Abstract

In the mid 1990s, one of the largest bark beetle infestations seen anywhere in the world occurred on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska. In one year, the infestation affected over one million acres of spruce in Alaska. This paper presents a coalescence of several aspects of study on the problem, including tree inventory and mortality, regeneration, understory response, a phytomass study, an assessment of mortality inventory methodology, and an assessment of forest health after the bark beetle infestation declined. The basis for the data collection in these studies was a two-phase sampling design (aerial photos and ground plots), established by the author in 1997 and subsequently re-measured in 1998.

Parent Publication

• Monitoring Science and Technology Symposium: Unifying Knowledge for Sustainability in the Western Hemisphere

Citation

LaBau, Vernon J. 2006. An overview of University of Alaska Anchorage, ENRI research on the spruce bark beetle infestation, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, 1997-2002. In: Aguirre-Bravo, C.; Pellicane, Patrick J.; Burns, Denver P.; and Draggan, Sidney, Eds. 2006. Monitoring Science and Technology Symposium: Unifying Knowledge for Sustainability in the Western Hemisphere Proceedings RMRS-P-42CD. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 132-139