Do not eat the pine beetle pesticide

Montana college student studies pesticide use against pine beetles


An article in the Rapid City Journal reports that a student is studying methods of pesticide use to curb the devistation caused by pine beetle infestations in the Black Hills. I understand the desire to prevent the kind of red forest blight that have killed off tens of thousands of acres of forest in places like Butte Montana. It is also interesting that while the headline uses Pesticide in the title, the method is not toxic to the mountain Pine Beetle - instead the effort uses a hormone to deter pine beetles from moving into an area. 

There are a number of questions I have about this strategy. 
1) Does deterring pine beetles with hormones address the root cause of deforestation in the Black Hills or Montana? 
- No, clearly not. If this method of chemical use became prevalent, it would likely be treating the symptom, but not the cause of the problem. There will be millions of dollars spent on a treatment that may work, but also have side effects that could be widespread and costly. Maybe studying the natural growth patterns of the Black Hills and managing the forest appropriately would help curb the beetle problem. 

2) If proven effective, is large scale pesticide use safe on public land? 
- I'm fine if a private land owner feels the need to spray for bugs as long as it is limited to the property, but a big section of the Black Hills is public lands. A policy of spraying the "wild" is a bad idea. What are the consequences of placing these treatments over a large area on both the flora and the fauna? 

I think if the Forest Service made a decision to use such a technique, an in-depth Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) would be appropriate.


Here is a comment I got from an interested reader, Sam: 

I looked into this a bit earlier this summer after noticing these packets tacked to trees all over Custer State Park. --http://www.flickr.com/photos/87116893@N00/4799406341/in/set-72157624391950577/ -- One of the alternative means that they were using to combat the pine beetles here was harvesting tree's whole, by helicopter. They figured the only way to get the infected trees out of the forest without spreading pine beetles all over was to evacuate by air... not exactly an inexpensive proposition... The manner in which they are applying the use of verbenone in Custer State Park is that they are cutting down infested and weak trees, creating slash, which in various stages is piled and burned over a 2-year period after it is allowed to dry. They are "protecting" the healthy trees from infestation by tacking verbenone packets to them. -- I cannot speak to the effectiveness or safety of this approach, but it is certainly in widespread use here.