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Western Hemlock Looper
Lambdina fiscellaria lugubrosa
Distribution: Primarily occurs south of 56 degrees latitude and is most common along the coast and in the interior wet belt of B.C. Outbreaks have occurred on stands from sea level to 1400 m elevation.
Tree Species Attacked: Western hemlock is the preferred host, but during outbreaks the looper feeds on almost any foliage, including broad-leaved forest trees and shrubs. All ages are susceptible.
Insect Description & Damage Symptoms: Larvae are typical "inch worm" loopers and are approximately 3.5 cm in length when mature. Young larvae are marked with light grey and black bands. Mature larvae are mottled grey to dark brown with an intricate pattern of darker markings. Each abdominal segment is marked with four prominent dark spots, which roughly form a square.
Larvae emerge in late spring and being feeding in newly opened buds in the upper crown. Later, the larvae feed on foliage of any age and disperse throughout the crown. The larvae are wasteful feeders. Many needles are only partially chewed; some are severed at the base and accumulate below an attacked tree. Mature larvae are quite mobile and produce an abundance of silk webbing, which is very evident in defoliated stands. The larvae pupate in late summer in bark crevices, moss, lichen, or in debris on the forest floor. The pupae area mottled greenish-brown, 1.1 to 1.5 cm long. The crowns of heavily attacked trees turn yellowish-red at first and eventually reddish-brown. Defoliation occurs most commonly on sites located in valley bottoms with a major western hemlock component, and is often in distinctive elevational bands.
Damage:
Western hemlock in the interior is intolerant of defoliation; thus, mortality can occur following only one year of heavy defoliation and may continue for up to four years after the collapse of a western hemlock looper infestation. Coastal hemlock seems much more resilient.
Most hemlock can recover from less than 50% defoliation.
The wasteful feeding habit of this insect greatly increases the amount of damage relative to most other defoliators. Older hemlock, amabilis fir, and Sitka spruce are most vulnerable to damage, while young Douglas-fir appears to suffer more than older. Outbreaks generally last for three years. Serious damage has occurred in hemlock/true fir mixes on the coast and hemlock/cedar stands in the interior wet belt of the province.
Similar Damage: Damage is similar to other defoliators, such as the western blackheaded budworm, but the larvae are very distinctive.
big
spray
When our Provincial Government sprays Btk on thousands of hectares that contain the headwaters of the Shuswap River - Should we care?
Part 1
The Upper Shuswap Rainforest
Under Threat
Understanding the Risks from Loopers, Btk and the Loss of Biodiversity
May 29, 2012
Written and Compiled
by Don Elzer
In June the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations will begin an aerial spray program using helicopters that will cover thousands of hectares surrounding Greenbush Lake and the headwaters of the Shuswap River home to the western edge of BC’s Inland Rainforest.
They will spray this area with a pesticide known as Foray 48B and the target will be the Western Hemlock Looper. The Looper feeds primarily on Hemlock but it can also feed on a variety of other species. According to some scientists its range and population has expanded vigorously due to climate change.
According to provincial and forest industry experts, the delivery of Foray 48B is believed to be the safest solution to combat the Looper, it’s classified as organic and they say it will pose little risk to ecosystems.
On the surface it seems like everything is under control, and that the early appearance of another timber predator that may equal the Mountain Pine Beetle is receiving early attention, and action. However, digging deeper suggests that there are emerging risks – risks that might cause us to review carefully the provincial pesticide program – and in particular the blanket application of Foray 48B into wilderness areas and in particular the Inland Rainforest.
The Upper Shuswap as a Protected Area
The headwaters of the Shuswap River and the Greenbush Lake area are representative of the Central Columbia Mountains Ecosection. It contains old-growth Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir and Interior cedar-hemlock forest types with exceptionally large cedar and spruce.
The Greenbush Lake Protected Area is a provincial park that was established on April 18, 2001 as part of the Okanagan-Shuswap LRMP process to protect important grizzly bear and mountain caribou habitat, it can be reached 124 km from Vernon via Highway 6 and then from Cherryville, turn north onto Sugar Lake Road, follow past Sugar Lake and along the Shuswap River for 53 km to the protected area.
According to BC Parks the protected area provides important spring range for grizzly and critical cedar-hemlock habitat for caribou. British Columbia contains most of the world's population of Mountain caribou. They are blue-listed and depend heavily on old-growth forest to supply lichen for their winter diet. Increased habitat fragmentation and winter recreational use is putting pressure on remaining herds emphasizing the importance of the Greenbush area.
What BC Parks doesn’t mention is that the provincial government has abandoned the caribou herd in this area in a belief that its low numbers cannot be sustained – they are allowing the herd to become extinct. This decision has begun to be disputed by some naturalists who claim that the herd numbers are higher than what’s presently being reported, and they are claiming that by abandoning the herd the doors have been opened to more logging and heli-skiing in what was, or is, sensitive Caribou range.
Wildlife listed in the area still includes Caribou along with black and grizzly bear, wolverine, marten, lynx, cougar, hoary marmot and the pileated woodpecker, yellow-rumped warbler, brown creeper and the blue-listed Townsend's big-eared bat.
BC Parks identifies that the old-growth forest here provides a unique opportunity for bird watching for species rarely seen elsewhere in the Okanagan Valley. This area marks the western edge of a vast but unique interior or inland rainforest. Rainforests such as this live a long time and grow huge trees because rain protects them from forest fires.
Rainforests of the temperate latitudes such as this one, hold a greater quantity of organic matter, living and dead, than any other terrestrial ecosystem in the world. BC has two temperate rainforests, one on the coast and one in the interior. The interior form has received less attention than its coastal counterpart, but it commonly has huge cedar trees that are 500-1,000 years old.
The oldest ones range up to four metres in diameter, and their age may be upwards of 1,800 years old. Sadly, less attention has meant less protection for the Inland Rainforest.
Rainforests must stay wet all year, even in July and August so its important that its canopy remains intact in order to preserve as much shade and moisture as possible. Rainforests generally exist at temperate latitudes in coastal regions, however BC’s Inland Rainforest is the only temperate rainforest in the world growing 400-600 kilometres from the ocean.
It is the only rainforest in the world that derives a major portion of its moisture from snow. As a result, it is biologically unique, even though it shares many species of plants and animals with its coastal counterpart. Scientists have recently discovered 13 species of lichens new to science in the Inland Rainforest, and they are studying about 40 more that are potentially new discoveries.
Unlocking mysteries in our Inland Rainforest
Researchers have recently discovered thirteen tree-dwelling lichen species previously unknown to science in British Columbia’s Inland Rainforest. They are currently studying about 40 more species that are potentially new to science. Most of them come from endangered, ancient cedar-hemlock forests. These discoveries mean that BC’s inland rainforest has one of the richest tree-dwelling lichen floras in the world.
“Such rates of discovery of new species are basically unparalleled in northern conifer forests,” says botanist Toby Spribille. “We are definitely looking at a major center of lichen diversity at a global level that we haven’t even begun to fathom or explain.”
Many species indicates many functions in the working of the forest ecosystem, and many linkages with other forms of life. Some lichens, like the leafy Lung Lichens, are natural fertilizers, aiding the growth of trees by capturing nitrogen from the air. The temperate rainforests are poor in nitrogen. Lichens can provide up to half the nitrogen requirement of a forest. Throughout the world, healthy lichen vegetation has come to stand for a healthy environment.
Many species of wildlife depend upon lichens for food and nesting materials. Mountain caribou are totally dependent upon hair lichens, for their winter food. Some moths have a special relationship with lichens. In its caterpillar stage, the Lichen Moth feeds on lichens. Lichens make unusual chemicals and little is known about their role in the ecosystem. Some moths sequester these compounds, making them taste bad to predators. Their vivid colour may be a warning that they are not good to eat.
BC’s Conservation Data Centre (CDC) lists 196 species-at-risk (red and blue-listed) in the Inland Rainforest known technically as the Interior Cedar-Hemlock (ICH) biogeoclimatic zone. Of these, 30 are listed as occurring only in the ICH zone. Further analysis is needed to determine how many are forest species. Quite a few belong to non-forest habitats such as wetlands like the one found around Greenbush Lake and along the Shuswap River.
The Looper as a threat and a primer for more logging
As is the case with many of the province’s rarest ecosystems, not all is well in the woods. In addition to hosting incredible biological diversity, the Inland Rainforest is also one of the province's most productive forest ecosystems and is therefore subject to forest harvesting at an ever-increasing rate. This is especially true in the Prince George Forest District where salvage logging is rationalized by an outbreak of western hemlock looper.
A much-maligned caterpillar, the Looper affected hundreds of hectares of hemlock in the Robson Valley between 1990 and 1995.
The annual allowable cut from the Interior Cedar Hemlock biogeoclimatic zone in the Prince George area alone is 100,000 cubic metres (m3) of timber per year for the next 50 years. This is despite the fact that the Ministry of Forest’s calculated long-run sustained yield for the Inland Rainforest is 85,000 m3 per year. In most of the areas cut, cedar and hemlock stands will be replanted with spruce and Douglas-fir, eliminating the possibility of the forest ever regaining its original composition and associated biological diversity. In a worst case scenario, we could see the loss of over 70% of the Interior Rainforest by the year 2017.
In the Upper Shuswap the risks are high. If the Looper expands its range and remains unchecked it may have catastrophic consequences on rainforest ecosystems. Those consequences may be a natural occurrence as climate change transitions these places into something different.
Conversely, our attempt to mitigate the damage caused by the Looper may have different consequences as we risk damaging food chains and behavior patterns within ecosystems by applying a insecticide that may have unknown consequences.
Is this a choice between two dangerous options? And if it is - are the choices being made by government, scientists or corporations?
What are the motivating factors as decisions are made and can we trust the decision making process?
Foray 48B as Bacillus thuringiensis var kurstaki
well known as Btk
Foray 48B in an insecticide manufactured by Valent BioSciences, which has working relationships with Monsanto. Foray 48B is used in forestry to selectively kill the larval stage of insects called Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). The active ingredient is Bacillus thuringiensis var kurstaki also known as Btk and is part of a core family of Bacillus thuringiensis substances referred to as Bt.
Bt is a soil-dwelling bacterium that also occurs naturally in the gut of caterpillars of various types of moths and butterflies, as well as on the dark surfaces of plants. When Bt is extracted it is commonly used as a biological pesticide; alternatively, the Cry toxin may be extracted from Bt, which can then be used as part of a chemical pesticide.
Bt has been used to control unwanted insects since the 1920s and is now used as specific insecticides under trade names such as Dipel, Thuricide, Foray and others. Because of their specificity, these pesticides are regarded as environmentally friendly, with little or no effect on humans, wildlife, pollinators, and most other beneficial insects.
The Belgian company Plant Genetic Systems was the first company (in 1985) to develop genetically engineered (tobacco) plants with insect tolerance by expressing cry genes from Bt. The Bt-based insecticides are often applied as liquid sprays on crop plants, where the insecticide must be ingested to be effective.
Bacillus thuringiensis serovar israelensis (Bti), a strain of Bt is widely used as a larvicide against mosquito larvae, where it is also considered an environmentally friendly method of mosquito control.
As of 2007, a new phenomenon called colony collapse disorder (CCD) began affecting bee hives all over North America. Initial speculation on possible causes ranged from new parasites to pesticide use to the use of Bt resistant transgenic crops. The Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium published a report in March 2007 that found no evidence that pollen from Bt crops is adversely affecting bees. The actual cause of CCD remains unknown, and scientists believe that it may have multiple causes.
Foray 48B or Btk are used commonly across Canada and the United States to combat the Western Hemlock Looper, the Tussok Moth and the Spruce Bud Worm. Government agencies including Health Canada identify it as posing very little risk. However, there have been successful legal efforts to stop the application of Btk because it may pose certain risks.
The Blue Mountain Biodiversity Project in Oregon won a court case agaist the US Forest Service which was attemting to erradicate the Tussock Moth using Btk. The group argued that Btk spraying would have killed all species of moths and butterflies in larval stage and not just the Tussock Moth. The group was successful and stopped the biocide spraying on up to five million acres across nine national forests in Washington and Oregon, setting new legal precedent on point sources of pollution.
It should be noted that while Health Canada considers Btk safe it mentions that in addition to the active ingredient Btk, other ingredients called formulants are used to create the final product. It is mandatory for registrants of pest control products to inform Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency PMRA of all formulants used in a pesticide or insecticide product. Formulant information is classified as a trade secret and the disclosure of this type of information to the general public is prohibited under the Access to Information and Privacy Act (ATIA).
Knowing that we know that we don’t know
Within the realm of forest management that centers on timber and other resource extraction, the laws of unintended consequences are constant. Some of the most serious concerns about widespread use of Bt including Btk as a pest control technique come from the effects it can have on animals other than the pest targeted for control. All Bt products can kill organisms other than their intended targets. In turn, the animals that depend on these organisms for food are also impacted.
Btk has been found to drift over 3,000 meters downwind during an aerial application. The distance Btk. is capable of drifting depends upon the amount and method of application, as well as the climatic conditions. Bt has been measured in air for up to 17 days following an application.
Btk has been recovered from rivers and public water distribution systems after an aerial application of Thuricide 16B. Standard water treatment processes are not adequate to destroy Btk spores. Bti spores and crystals bind readily to sediments in the water column which reduces their efficacy by making them inaccessible to mosquito and blackfly larvae.
In one test, Bti (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis is another variant of Bt) was applied to water, then allowed to contact mud particles. Over 99 percent of the Bti spores were found in the mud, rather than in the water, after 45 minutes. The Bti retained viability and toxicity for at least 22 days, killing 90 per-cent of the mosquito larvae when the mud was stirred and reintroduced to the water column.
In another experiment, viable cells were recovered from the water for up to 200 days and in the sediment for up to 270 days after application.
Monitoring studies following large-scale Bt spray programs have shown that exposed people carry Bt in their tissues. For example, more than 11 percent of nasal swab samples taken from patients surveyed by doctors in Vancouver following a Gypsy Moth spray program were found to contain Btk.
Bt was also found in cultures taken from patients in Lane County, Oregon following a Gypsy Moth spray program there. Monitoring studies also show that exposed people report a variety of health problems that they believe to be associated with Bt exposure.
For example, during the Vancouver spray program, almost 250 people reported health problems, mostly allergy-like or flu-like symptoms. During a Washington Gypsy Moth spray program, over 250 people reported health problems and 6 were treated in emergency rooms for allergy or asthma problems. Physicians have so far been unable to definitively link Bt exposure to these health problems.
Bt is considered safe and while there are cases where people have had adverse reactions, the impacts it has on ecosystems are unclear. The biological diversity of the Inland Rainforest has only recently begun to be explored at the ground and canopy level. To date, much of this research has been focused on arboreal lichens (lichens that grow on the branches of the canopy) and their relationship to forest age and structure. The emerging theory is that certain lichens depend on very old forest stands to provide the ecological and climatic characteristics necessary for their survival. These lichens may thus hold the key for assessing who ancient a forest is. Research in the Inland Rainforest is ongoing and researchers from institutions like the University of Northern British Columbia say that there is great potential for the discovery of species and ecosystems not found elsewhere on the planet.
Should we care?
The headwaters of the Shuswap River is remote enough that it seems to be without advocacy and protection. Already areas set aside to protect these old growth ecosystems have been compromised by logging, road building and commercial recreation. It is an area without a community of active stewards that can independently monitor commercial interests.
Yet it is one of the great sources of fresh water in this province.
Inland rainforests are threatened everywhere. The biological and structural diversity that distinguishes parts of these forests are unparalleled in the interior of the province. This is because the wet nature of parts of the Inland Rainforest prevents the frequent stand-replacing disturbance events such as wildfire that characterize many other forest ecosystems. In parts of the Inland Rainforest stands of trees can escape disturbance for hundreds—even thousands—of years, resulting in very old stands that have developed unique ecological characteristics. The oldest of these stands, where the age of the forest as a whole is significantly greater than the oldest tree, have come to be called ‘antique forests.’ Antique forest stands occur in discrete pockets where slope position, aspect, and moisture regime protect the forest from disturbance.
A number of these antique forests border the Btk spray zones. Greenbush Provincial Park and the Shuswap River Ecological Reserve will both be impacted by the spray. However they are also poised to be habitat for the Looper, which serves as a reminder that the rainforest is under threat regardless.
Currently, the province and forest licensees are having their way in this area, which have brought to the surface a term that is appearing more within resource extraction plans and its called “planned salvage.”
A planned salvage can be found within a Decision Support System (DSS) which is a tool to help forest managers decide when and where to use biological insecticides, and how to use rescheduling of harvest, forest restructuring or planned salvage to reduce future harvesting losses.
The Looper can be a serious threat to forest companies or it can be a benefit. It can provide a means by which harvesting can occur in old growth stands – if those stands are threatened by the Looper. The loss or removal of timber is vast when an insect population booms, such has been the case with the Mountain Pine Beetle.
But the decisions about how to manage the Looper might be all about business with biodiversity not being a profitable option.
And that presents the unanswered question - who or what will fight for the interests of ecosystems at the headwaters of the Shuswap River?
The Looper is a moth, and Btk will kill it along with other species of moths and butterflies.
Do your own research....
Quick Links
Update:
Btk – Another 28,000 hectares added to the Big Spray
Spruce budworm spraying in the Okanagan begins this week
June 19, 2012
The Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations have added to their Btk spray program as then now plan to aerially treat up to 28,000 hectares of forest in the Okanagan to reduce populations of western spruce budworm.
The proposed treatment areas are located near Bear Creek, the Ellis-Carmi forest service road, Clark Creek, Inkameep, Madden Creek, Naramata Bench, Okanagan Falls, Naramata Mountain, Shingle Creek, Sheep Creek, West Kelowna and Westwold.
The pest management plan and maps of treatment areas can be viewed at the Thompson Okanagan Region Forest Health Program office at 441 Columbia Street in Kamloops, or online - click here.
The biological agent Foray 48B will be applied by helicopter on or about June 20-26, 2012, weather permitting.
According to the Ministry, Foray 48B is a biological insecticide that is widely used in B.C. and is registered with the Organic Materials Review Institute. The active ingredient in Foray 48B is the naturally occurring bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Btk). This spray only affects moth and butterfly larvae and can be used safely around humans and other animals. Birds, household pets, fish and beneficial insects (including honey bees) are not affected.
The western spruce budworm is an insect that is native to B.C. and the Pacific Northwest. In its larval stage, it defoliates Douglas-fir, true firs, spruce and larch trees. A budworm outbreak has the potential to seriously harm or kill trees over large areas.
Another 10,000 hectares are being sprayed in the Kootenay-Boundary region including parts of the Granby and Kettle watersheds and another 12,000 hectares in the Monashee including the Sugar Lake and Greenbush Lake areas.
Update:
Province steps up Btk spray beyond the Upper Shuswap
June 1, 2012
The provincial government is stepping up its aerial spraying of Btk in remote watersheds.
The Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations announced today that it plans to aerially treat up to 10,000 hectares of forest in the Kootenay-Boundary Region to reduce populations of western spruce budworm. This is in addition to the spraying being done in the Upper Shuswap and Thompson areas.
The proposed treatment locations are near Midway and Beaverdell and represent Kettle River and Granby River watersheds. The pest management plan and maps of treatment areas can be viewed at the Kootenay-Boundary Region Forest Health Program office at 333 Victoria St. (4th floor) in Nelson, or online click here.
The biological insecticide Foray 48B will be applied by helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft on or about June 15-22, 2012, weather permitting.
The province claims that Foray 48B is a biological insecticide that is widely used in B.C. and is registered with the Organic Materials Review Institute based in the US. The active ingredient in Foray 48B is the naturally occurring bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Btk). The province insists that this spray only affects moth and butterfly larvae and can be used safely around humans and other animals. Birds, household pets, fish and beneficial insects (including honey bees) are not affected.
But an organic grower responding to the MVS story Big Spray has words of caution regarding the government's "organic" claim around Foray 48B. Brian (Cormac) MacIsaac from Sorrento told the Shuswap Environmental Action Society that, “Yes, Bt is used by certified organic farmers, but only in very specific formulations, where all the carriers (additional additives) are known and also approved. It is also only approved for use in specific topical applications, not aerial spraying of enormous areas.”
“As with anything used in organic production, runoff, by-catch (to borrow a fisheries word) and the downstream or side effects on non-target species are reviewed and considered in the timing and type of application. This is clearly not the case here, with an unapproved formulation and aerial spraying,” said MacIsaac.
He added that, “As organic producers, we deeply resent the government's hijacking the term "organic", negating the 25 years of work we have done to ensure that our practices are beneficial.”
Unlike the Upper Shuswap spray program which is targeting the western hemlock looper, the province is trying to control western spruce budworm in the Kootenay-Boundary area. The budworm is an insect that is native to B.C. and the Pacific Northwest. In its larval stage, it defoliates Douglas fir, true firs, spruce and larch trees. According to the province, the budworm outbreak has the potential to seriously harm or kill trees over large areas.
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