Number of beetle-killed trees declining

IDAHO FALLS (AP) - U.S. Forest Service officials say the number of trees being killed by pine beetle infestation is on the decline, in part because the insects have eaten themselves out of house and home.

The beetles burrow under the bark of pine trees to lay eggs. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae eat the inner layer of bark, killing the tree. An aerial survey in 2010 showed beetle-killed trees on 9.2 million acres of public and private land in Western states, including nearly 2 million acres in Idaho.

The number of infested acres in Idaho has dropped 63 percent in the years since, to about 719,000 acres in 2012.

Experts feel confident the decline will continue.

"(It) is declining for multiple reasons, but the main factor is they've killed most of their suitable hosts," U.S. Forest Service entomologist Carl Jorgensen told the Post Register.

Once a tree is infested, it can't be saved.

"There's nothing we can do for it at that point," said Tom Eckberg, Idaho Department of Lands Forest Health Specialist.