JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — A state’s insect expert called the discovery of a tree-killing bark beetle in a Bothell trap “concerning.”
Washington state officials have been tracking the migration of the California fivespined ips from Oregon since the flying insect appeared in the Columbia River Gorge in 1999.
In 2022, U.S. Forest Service Entomologist Beth Willhite identified the beetles in Ponderosa pines on Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Pierce County.
That was as far north as the state thought the insect had migrated, but then reports of pine deaths in University Place, Renton and Seattle were linked to the beetle.
A fivespined ips also recently showed up in the trap in Bothell.
The bugs are attracted to trees, typically pines, damaged by heat, drought, or fire.
When they move in, they can kill a tree within a year, said Department of Natural Resources Entomologist Glenn Kohler.
"Those hot temperatures and the unprecedented droughts, year after year, [are] really stressing these trees out,” said Kohler.
Kohler said while the bug was found farther north than expected, and despite the fact they can kill trees, there is no plan to eradicate the bark beetles from the state.
"There wouldn't be any sense to try and get rid of them, push them back to Oregon somehow, that's not going to happen,” said Kohler.
He said the state will continue to map the migration of the beetle. Anyone who sees pine trees with red needles near its top are requested to contact the Department of Natural Resources at foresthealthtracker.dnr.wa.gov/FindYourForester.