Carbaryl

Lodgepole pine is a fire adapted seral species that covers vast portions of the western United States and Canada. As a result, it is not practical (or necessary) to "save" it from the Mountain Pine Beetle. Some individual trees are, however, very valuable. These are the ones that have shaded the camping spot that my family and I have visited for generations. While no tree lives forever, maximizing shade tree lifespan is desirable, and avoiding complete camping area mortality is imperative.

One expensive, but generally successful, method for maintaining live trees in the face of an insect epidemic, is to spray each stem five inches in diameter or greater with insecticide. In this image, a contractor is spraying lodgepole in a National Forest campground on the north slope of the Uinta with Carbaryl. They generally spray each tree from top to bottom three times as they circle it . . . hundreds of trees per day . . . it is a slow, costly job.

The Forest Service silviculturist who was supervising this application told me that they have marked 15,000 trees for spraying this year. At $10 per tree, the pictured contractor should experience some fiscal stimulus this year. Of course, he wasn't wearing a respirator, or even a mask, so I'm not sure how much time he'll have to enjoy the fruits of his labor.