Resource Practices Branch Pest Management Report Number 15 Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data Main entry under title: Summary of forest health conditions in British Columbia. - - 2001 - Annual. Vols. for 2014- issued in Pest management report series. Also issued on the Internet. ISSN 1715-0167 = Summary of forest health conditions in British Columbia. 1. Forest health - British Columbia - Evaluation - Periodicals. 2. Trees - Diseases and pests - British Columbia - Periodicals. 3. Forest surveys - British Columbia - Periodicals. I. British Columbia. Forest Practices Branch. II. Series: Pest management report. SB764.C3S95 634.9’6’09711 C2005-960057-8 Front cover photo by Rick Reynolds: Yellow-cedar decline on Haida Gwaii 2014 SUMMARY OF FOREST HEALTH CONDITIONS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA Joan Westfall1 and Tim Ebata2 Contact Information 1 Forest Health Forester, EntoPath Management Ltd., 1654 Hornby Avenue, Kamloops, BC, V2B 7R2. Email: [email protected] 2 Forest Health Officer, Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, PO Box 9513 Stn Prov Govt, Victoria, BC, V8W 9C2. Email: [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS Summary ................................................................................................................................................ i Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 1 Methods ................................................................................................................................................. 3 General Conditions .............................................................................................................................. 6 Damaging Agents of Pines .................................................................................................................. 9 Mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae ................................................................ 9 Lodgepole pine beetle, Dendroctonus murrayanae ............................................................. 13 Lophodermella needle cast, Lophodermella concolor ......................................................... 14 Dothistroma needle blight, Dothistroma septospora ............................................................ 14 Pine needle sheathminer, Zellaria haimbachi ........................................................................ 15 Shore pine damage ..................................................................................................................... 16 White pine blister rust, Cronartium ribicola .......................................................................... 16 Lodgepole needle miner, Coleotechnites milleri .................................................................. 17 Damaging Agents of Douglas-fir ....................................................................................................... 17 Western spruce budworm, Choristoneura occidentalis ....................................................... 17 Douglas-fir beetle, Dendroctonus pseudotsugae .................................................................. 20 Laminated root disease, Phellinus sulphurascens ................................................................ 22 Douglas-fir tussock moth, Orgyia pseudotsugata ................................................................. 23 Damaging Agents of Spruce ............................................................................................................... 23 Spruce beetle, Dendroctonus rufipennis ................................................................................. 23 Damaging Agents of True Fir ............................................................................................................. 25 Western balsam bark beetle, Dryocoetes confusus ............................................................... 25 Balsam woolly adelgid, Adelges piceae ................................................................................. 27 Two-year-cycle budworm, Choristoneura biennis ................................................................ 28 Damaging Agents of Hemlock ......................................................................................................... 29 Western blackheaded budworm, Acleris gloverana ............................................................. 29 Western hemlock looper, Lambdina fiscellaria lugubrosa .................................................. 29 Damaging Agents of Larch .................................................................................................................. 30 Larch needle blight, Hypodermella laricis ............................................................................. 30 Damaging Agents of Cedar ................................................................................................................. 31 Yellow-cedar decline .................................................................................................................. 31 Western redcedar weather damage ................................................................................................ 32 Damaging Agents of Deciduous Trees ............................................................................................. 33 Aspen (serpentine) leaf miner, Phyllocristis populiella ....................................................... 33 Large aspen tortrix, Choristoneura conflictana ...................................................................... 36 Forest tent caterpillar, Malacosoma disstria ........................................................................... 36 Venturia blight, Venturia spp. .................................................................................................. 38 Gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar ................................................................................................. 39 Birch leafminer, Fenusa pusilla ................................................................................................ 41 Cottonwood leaf rust, Melampsora occidentalis ................................................................... 41 Aspen decline .............................................................................................................................. 42 Satin moth, Leucoma salicis ...................................................................................................... 42 Damaging Agents of Multiple Host Species .................................................................................... 43 Abiotic injury and associated forest health factors ................................................................ 43 Animal damage ........................................................................................................................... 47 Armillaria root disease, Armillaria ostoyae ........................................................................... 48 Miscellaneous damaging agents ........................................................................................................ 49 Forest Health Projects .......................................................................................................................... 50 Forest Health Meetings/Workshops/Presentations ...................................................................... 57 Forest Health Publications .................................................................................................................. 69 SUMMARY The 2014 Summary of Forest Health Conditions in British Columbia (BC) contains forest health information gathered during the 2014 aerial overview surveys and other BC Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (MFLNRO) sources. Overview material is supplemented for targeted forest health issues with lower flown helicopter surveys. Further specific damaging agent ground sources include insect population assessments, forest health surveys and ground observations by trained personnel. The final sections of the report consist of project summaries, meetings, presentations and publications conducted by MFLNRO entomologists, pathologists and their associates. The aerial overview survey covered an estimated 89% of the province this year, with over 12.2 million hectares (ha) of damage mapped. These disturbances were caused by a wide variety of forest health agents affecting many different host tree species. By a narrow margin, bark beetle mortality continued to affect the largest area across the province. Western balsam bark beetle damage led with just under 3 million ha affected. Intensity of attack was noted to be higher as well, though 84% of the infestations were still just rated as trace. The mountain pine beetle outbreak which has dominated the landscape of BC for over a decade declined for the fifth consecutive year to 2.2 million ha. Intensity of mortality decreased as well and infestation expansions were minimal, primarily in the far north and south. Lodgepole pine mortality north of the delineated mountain pine beetle attack was attributed to lodgepole pine beetle with 73,079 ha mapped. Spruce beetle damage increased to 288,892 ha, primarily in the Omineca Region, and Douglas-fir beetle infestations grew to 39,481 ha mostly in Williams Lake TSA of the Cariboo Region. Area affected by defoliators was very close to that of bark beetles this year and damage was dominated by deciduous pests. Aspen leaf miner continued to be the leading cause