The Component on forest pest management will be implemented according the following strategies and methodologies:
Creation of a working group on forest pest management.
The working group on forest pest management will consist of representatives of The Heron Group and partner organizations: Institute of Forest (Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences), and forest-related organizations of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russian Federation. The working group will be responsible for development of strategies, improvement of methods, and implementation of the project.
Optimize monitoring of major forest pest species based on their regional population characteristics, intensive use of geographic information systems, and combined use of contemporary sampling methods.
We plan to classify areas on each side of the Yenissey River in Siberia according to their forest characteristics and to develop area-specific monitoring methods for each area based on regional species composition of pest insects and their biology. The monitoring system will focus on the following pest species: Siberian moth (Dendrolimus superans sibiricus Tschtvrk.), gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar L.), and possibly, the nun moth (Lymantria monacha L.).
In leskhozes located in potential outbreak areas of the Siberian moth, we will delineate stands with various risks of defoliation. Maps developed using GIS-technology will optimize the location of sampling areas so that they will coincide with potential outbreak areas. Pest populations will be monitored between outbreaks with pheromone traps that will considerably reduce labor and other costs of traditional survey techniques. Only after an increase in pest numbers is detected with pheromone traps, will we start an intensive larval sampling (by hitting or felling trees) program along key routs to validate moth capture results.
To monitor gypsy moth population numbers, we will use a grid of pheromone traps in an area of continuous presence. In the areas of increased population density, sampling plots will be established for a more detailed survey.
The program will support further improvement of the composition of the sexual attractant of the Siberian moth and technology of its application. If project support allows, we plan to facilitate the production of pheromone dispensers and inexpensive pheromone traps as separate industries in Russia.
Development of an electronic database on distribution and abundance of forest pest insects.
Annual data on pest monitoring will be organized in a regional database and placed on the Internet within a special Project site. All data will be transferred into GIS (Arc View software) for visualization and analysis. Data on pest species abundance will be available for downloading via the Internet. Annual training sessions, seminars, and training materials on the Internet will facilitate effective public access to the database.
Development of a system for risk-assessment and decision-making in forest pest management. As a prototype, we will use the system developed for the USDA Slow-the-Spread of the gypsy moth project. The following basic functions of the system will be developed for model regions of the project.
1. Delineating regions with specific forest and landscape conditions that affect the methodology of pest monitoring. 2. Delineating areas for intensive monitoring of individual pest species. 3. Detecting spatial and temporal trends in the abundance of forest pest populations. 4. Defoliation risk assessment and making control decisions.
5. Evaluation of management success
At the end of the project, the system will be transferred to regional Centers for Forest Protection. Implementation of the project will start from Krasnoyarski krai and adjacent regions. Subsequently, these methods will be transferred to Irkutskaya region or Khabarovski krai.
This web site was developed according to the plan of the
Forest Resources and Technologies (FOREST) project funded by USAID
