Western Forest Insects

This field handbook has been prepared to provide information on western forest insects. The discussions are limited to the insects and the problems which they raise in the management and protection of the forests of the Western States, although the general principles of control are applicable to other forest regions as well. It is hoped that the information assembled will add timber owners and foresters in recognizing the work of important western forest insects, in applying suitable control measures, or in adjusting forest practices so as to reduce losses from this source to the lowest possible point.

This history was compiled from the memoirs, diaries, and other personal documents of the two forest entomologists in charge of the first forest insect laboratories on the west coast. It traces the lives of the two pioneers from 1902 to 1952 as they pursued their careers in the USDA Bureau of Entomology, Division of Forest Insect Investigations. Cooperative bark beetle control projects with the USDA Forest Service, Park Service, and private timber owners guided much of their early activities. Later, when the laboratories were located on university campuses, cooperative research was undertaken with Forest Service Research Stations. The focus shifted to more basic research and, particularly, studies on the silvicultural management of bark beetle populations.

This publication is a companion volume to Miscellaneous Publication 273, Insect Enemies of Western Forests, but Keen. Its purpose is to treat in a practical manner the more important forest insects in that part of the United States lying east of the Great Plains or treeless areas, roughly the 100th meridian. There is necessarily some overlapping of the eastern and western regions, particularly in the more arid parts of Texas and the Southwest and along the watercourses traversing the Great Plains where the eastern hardwoods extend westward.