Abiotic Forest Damage
Abiotic damage to pine caused by chemical drift. (USDA Forest Service photo by by Dr. Bruce Moltzan)
Abiotic forest damage caused by non-living factors are a natural and integral part of forest ecosystems that have major impacts, positive and negative. When these non-living factors exceed their normal range of variation, however, the impacts on forests can be extreme affecting entire…
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Invasive Forest Pathogens
Sudden Oak Death in China Camp State Park near San Rafael, CA. (USDA Forest Service photo by Bruce Moltzan)
Preventing or reducing undesirable impacts of invasive forest diseases are a difficult challenge facing all land managers. Invasive forest diseases such as Sudden Oak Death, Laurel Wilt, White Pine Blister Rust, Chestnut Blight, Dutch Elm Disease, and Butternut Canker, continue to have…
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Virus Products
Douglas-fir Tussock moth virus (TM Biocontrol-1)
Douglas-fir Tussock moth killed by virus. USDA Forest Service photo.
Wild populations of the Douglas-fir tussock moth have several naturally-occurring diseases that cause mortality to certain life stages of the insect during the course of an outbreak. The agentsnucleopolyhedrosis virus (NPV) that cause these diseases are bacteria, fungi, and…
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Pesticide-Use Risk Assessments and Worksheets
Risk Assessments
Worker reading label prior to field work. (Photo by USDA Forest Service - Region 8)
Forest managers frequently make decisions regarding the use of pesticides on forest lands. These decisions must be based not only on the effectiveness of these tools, but also on an understanding of the risks associated with their use. For the pesticides commonly used by the Forest Service in…
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Pesticide Registration
nucleopolyhedrosis virus (NPV). (USDA Forest Service photo)
USDA Forest Service through its Forest Health Protection program maintains federal (U.S. EPA) and state pesticide registrations for two biological pesticides it produces and uses in its forest pest management projects. The Forest Service also provides these pesticides to federal and state cooperators at no cost. These pesticide…
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Pesticide Impact Assessment Program (FS-PIAP)
History
Aerial application. (Courtesy photo from bugwood.org, by Steve Dewey, Utah State University)
FS-PIAP started as one element of the National Agricultural Pesticide Impact Assessment Program (NAPIAP), a USDA-wide effort to develop pesticide use and effects data, and to fill data gaps in support of EPA registrations. When NAPIAP was disbanded in 1998 the Forest Service saw a continuing…