Macon — Thousands of acres of trees are being killed this summer by one of the worst infestations of Southern pine beetles in decades, forestry officials say.
Carolyn Johnson, assistant refuge manager at Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge in central Georgia, says some of the loggers who have been helping stop the pest from spreading there tell her it is the worst outbreak they've seen since the late 1970s or early '80s. With 179 infested spots across the refuge, Johnson said the map on which they are plotted "looks as if you shot the map with a shotgun."
In the surrounding Oconee National Forest, 2,000 acres of pine trees have been lost so far this year, said Erin Bronk, district ranger for the Oconee Ranger District, which includes forests in Jones, Jasper, Putnam, Morgan and Greene counties.
"We have 700 identified spots scattered over about two-thirds of the Oconee National Forest, which would be an impact area of about 80,000 acres," Bronk said.
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