NEWS RELEASES
Alaska Campgrounds Closed Due To Spruce Beetle Damage
Editor's Note: This news item was retrieved and first published through Alaska Public Media's website.
Alaska Public Media reports that two state-operated campgrounds north of Anchorage have been closed due to tree damage caused by spruce beetles. Byers Lake Campground in Denali State Park, and South Rolly Campground in the Nancy Lake State Recreation Area were found to pose a hazard to campers, with the potential of rotting trees falling on visitors. The campgrounds will likely remain closed for the rest of the summer, and possibly into 2020. Stuart Leidner, Superintendent of State Parks for the Mat-Su/ Copper Basin Area, told the media outlet that the beetle infestation extends to many other camping areas in the state, but the state is starting with tree removal in the two largest campground areas affected, with smaller campgrounds addressed later.
According to Alaska Forest Service studies, spruce beetles currently are affecting around 500,000 acres of forest in Southcentral Alaska’s Susitna River drainage and northwest Kenai Peninsula. The destructive bark beetle, native to northern latitudes in North America, including most of Canada, Alaska and northern states from Montana to Maine, destroyed about 30 million trees per year in Alaska from 1992 to 1999, and, in 2018, the state experienced an extensive new outbreak. Experts believe that longer summers are adding to rapidly expanding spruce beetle populations.
More information can be found on the Forest Service Spruce Beetle page.