Mountain Pine BeetleDetection and Management

in Alberta

Ground Survey Procedures

Course Revised 11/2010

MPB Monitoring & Control

August September October November December January February March April May June July

Aerial surveys

Ground Surveys

GPS locations of suspected beetle-killed trees

Locations of trees to be treated- confirmed MPB infestation

Control

Ground Surveys

• Aim: 100% detection of trees with current MPB attacks based on the aerial survey information

List of Equipment

• GPS, Compass and Map

• Knife/Hatchet

• Clinometer and DBH Tape

• Red and Pink Pest Management flagging tape

• Black permanent marker, pencils

• Data sheets

Data collection

Record all the data in the appropriate slots on the MPB concentric survey data sheet

Natural Resources Canada

N51°11.0551’ latitude, W-116°21.1001’ longitude

Set up the GPS• Set to NAD83• Collect data in degrees/minutes/decimal minutes

GPS Set Up

• Fill in the header information

• Project Manager will supply – Project name

– Corporate Area, Infestation and site #

• Beetle year is Aug 15 of current year to Aug 14 of following year– The current beetle year is 2011; it extends from August 15, 2011 to

August 14, 2012

Header Information

• Indicate the mode of transport used to access the site

• Record the GPS coordinates for the access location and the positional accuracy

Access to Plot

Locating Plot Centre

• Use GPS coordinates provided to find the red/fader tree at the plot centre

• If the GPS location was derived during a Heli-GPS survey, it will be associated with a red or fading tree.

• If GPS point is not close to red/fading trees, do a 25 meter sweep to locate red/fading trees.

• If red/fading trees at GPS point is non-mpb tree, do a 25 meter sweep to ensure no MPB trees at the site.

• Select an uninfested tree close to the fading tree as the plot centre.

Plot Set Up

• To mark plot center, double flag the selected tree with red pest management flagging

• Label the flagging with

– beetle year

– site number

– the words “PLOT CENTRE”

– survey date

e.g. 2011 4 PLOT CENTRE Jan 14

Describe how you got to the site (e.g. approx 75m north from NE corner of wellsite), and any safety or other unique issues

Record GPS coordinates of the plot centre and the positional accuracy

Plot Set Up

• Measure 50 m from the plot centre along each cardinal direction

• Flag 25 m and 50 m marks along each cardinal line with red pest management flagging

• Flagging must be tied onto an uninfested tree, or if a tree can not be found then any suitable marker can be used to tie a flag

• Ensure that the knot of each flagging is facing the plot centre

Plot Set Up

• Label each flag with the

– beetle year

– site number

– cardinal direction and

– distance from the plot centre

e.g. 2011 4 S 25m

Plot Set Up

Survey Procedure

• Systematically examine every pine tree in each quadrant of the plot for entrance holes and/or boring dust

• Use red flagging as reference points

2011 4 S 25 m

2011 4 S 50 m

2011 4 N 50 m

2011 4 N 25 m

2011 4 E 50 m

N

2011 4 PLOT CENTRE Jan 14

Record GPS location

2011 4 W 50 m

2011 4 E 25 m2011 4 W 25 m

Infested trees

• Flag each infested tree with live MPB brood with pink pest management tape labeled with – beetle year

– site #,

– quadrant, and

– consecutive tree #

e.g. 2011-4-NW1, 2011-4-NW2, 2011-4-SW1, 2011-4-SW2…etc

• Ensure flagging knots face the plot centre

2011 4 S 25 m

2011 4 S 50 m

2011 4 N 50 m

2011 4 N 25 m

2011 4 E 50 m

2011-4-SE1

2011-4-NE1

2011-4-NW1

N

2011 4 PLOT CENTRE Jan 14

2011 4 W 50 m

2011 4 E 25 m

2011-4-SW1

2011 4 W 25 m

2011-4-SW2

Tree with 40 or less entrance holes

An infested tree is considered ‘Unsuccessfully Attacked’ if it has 40 or less entrance holes

These trees do not require control

Do not flag these trees

Galleries do not have to be carved out

An infested tree is considered ‘Unsuccessfully Attacked’ if it is less than 15cm dbh regardless of the number of entrance holes

These trees do not require control

Do not flag these trees

MPB infested tree <15 cm in dbh

Galleries do not have to be carved out

Trees with woodpecker damage that meet the attack threshold will be pink flagged

Woodpecker damage

Concentric Survey:Forked Trees

Count forked trees by the number of stems below dbh (1.3 m from the ground level), as illustrated below:

dbh

1 tree

dbh

2 trees

dbh

1 tree

Concentric Survey: Trees >15 cm dbh with living MPB brood & >40 hits

Draw a dot at the approximate location of each of the trees requiring control (pink flagged trees) on the crosshair map on the data sheet.

Trees >15 cm dbh with living MPB brood & >40 hits

• If there are more than 10 pink flagged trees in the quadrant write the total # of trees in quadrant summary field

• Do not draw dots on the map

Representative Tree

• Measure and record the DBH (include one decimal place) and tree height rounded to the nearest 0.5 meter of a tree representative of the currently infested trees in the plot (pink flagged)

• See Appendix 1 of the manual for instructions on using a clinometer to measure tree heights

• Write the words “REP TREE” on the flagging of this tree

• If there are only UA trees at the site, no “REP TREE” measurements are required.

Representative Tree

• Map location of rep tree on data sheet field map using “R”

R

• If infested trees are only found within the 25 m inner circle, surveying beyond the 50 m markers is not required

Limits on Plot Survey

• If an infested tree is found between the 25 m and 50 m markers, complete a “mini survey”– -extend survey in the two nearest quadrants by another 10 m

Mini-survey

Mini-survey

• Fill in the dotted line of the two “mini survey” quadrants on the map portion of the data sheet

Mini-survey

• Attacked trees found in the 10 m mini-survey may trigger a new concentric plot (additional)

– project manager determines the number of such attacked trees needed to trigger a new plot

• Unsuccessful attack (UA) trees do not trigger a new concentric plot

• Trees found during the mini sweep are to be tallied with the original (parent) plot.

Schematic Diagram

Figure 1. Layout of a concentric plot

• Move the new (additional) plot centre 50 m from the edge of the original (parent) plot, along the same bearing from the original plot centre to the tree/s in the mini sweep

• Avoid overlap with other plots

• If the additional plot location does not meet a threshold of >25% pine composition (of stems DBH>15cm) then the plot can be moved up to 50m in either direction while staying 50m from the parent plot edge

• If a suitable location is not found it can be dropped with comments explaining the situation

Mini survey Triggers a New Plot

Mini survey Triggers a New Plot

• Tally the mini sweep trees with the parent plot

• Number the additional plot by using the original adjacent site number and a letter.

• For example, if a green tree is identified outside the 50 m plot boundary near site number 4, the new site number will be 4a.

If mini-surveys are triggered around the entire parent plot (i.e. two mini-surveys), the trees in the portions of the mini-surveys bordering any two adjacent quadrants will be combined to determine whether an additional plot will be triggered

10 m

Mini survey Triggers a New Plot

Tally Pink-flagged Trees

• When plot is complete tally all pink flagged trees from the 4 quadrants in the appropriate red or green column

Red vs. Green Trees

• When tallying pink flagged tree into the Red or Green color classes:

– A tree is Red only if 100% of the foliage is red

– Green trees may show various levels of fading

Total Pink-flagged Trees

• Total and record pink flagged trees with green & red needles as shown below

This + This =

Recording UA Trees

Count the number of UA trees and record the total number of UA trees in the plot on the data sheet

– Attacked trees that are smaller that <15cm DBH, or have 40 or less hits

5-Needle Pines

• Whitebark and limber pine have been designated as Endangered in Alberta.

• If either of these species are attacked in the plot, record the number of attacked trees in the appropriate box on the datasheet.

• The attacked whitebark and limber pine are not totalled separately from the trees with live brood total.

e.g., if there are 7 trees attacked in the plot and 3 of them are limber pine, record 7 in the ‘Total’ and 3 in ‘Limber Pine’

Plots with pheromone-baited trees

• Some of the sites may be baited with pheromones

• Collect all the baits and existing flagging and give those to the project manager

• Re-flag any currently infested trees by following the procedure given earlier

• Enter the removed bait numbers on the data sheet

Previously Identified Trees

• For any trees that have flagging and numbers from a previous years operations or trees numbered during a summer program, the Project Manager will determine if the old trees need treatment (possible 2 year lifecycle).

• For old trees that do not require treatment (i.e. beetles have developed and flown) remove the existing flagging.

• For old trees that still require treatment, remove all old flagging and replace it with new pink flagging. Label them using the new numbering system outlined earlier.

Surveys: Comments

• Comment, comment, comment

• Very important to fill in

• Will help QI assessors understand why calls were made

• May assist control crews

• If GPS locations of other sites are found within a parent concentric plot, record the absorbed site number on the datasheet in the Survey Comments box.

• Do not perform another concentric survey and do not fill in a tally card for the absorbed site.

Absorbed Plots

Incidental Sites

• While walking from the access location or from site to site, surveyors may detect current attacked trees that are not associated with fading or red trees

• The Project Manager will determine how many current attacked trees are required to complete a survey

• UA trees do not warrant an incidental plot

• Not all Forest Areas require incidental surveys –determined at start-up meeting

Survey Performance Measures

The acceptable tolerances for surveys are listed below– No penalty will be assessed if within these limits: