Andrew Nikiforuk
Greystone Books
2011; 240 pages
ISBN: 978-1-55365-510-7
Price CDN $19.95/ US $17.95 (soft cover)

“How are the bark beetles this year?”

I am still frequently confronted with this question after a widespread bark beetle outbreak in 2003-2004 in southern California. Eight years later, the threat of bark beetle-caused tree mortality still plagues our thoughts, and land managers continue to mitigate extensive tree mortality and strive to reduce the risk of forest stands to future attack. Empire of the Beetle: How Human Folly and a Tiny Bug Are Killing North America’s Great Forests by Andrew Nikiforuk elegantly captures the devastation and impact of recent bark beetle outbreaks in western North America, and admirably characterizes the hurdles, attitudes, and atmosphere that followed the bark beetle outbreak in southern California.

Empire of the Beetle provides an in-depth portrayal of several recent bark beetle outbreaks, including the mid-1990’s spruce pine beetle outbreaks in Alaska; mountain pine beetle outbreaks in British Columbia, Alberta, and the U.S. Rocky Mountains; and the early 2000’s pinyon pine engraver outbreaks in the southwestern U.S. Nikiforuk provides additional details about bark beetle outbreaks in the early 20th century in the western U.S., which were investigated by some of the forest entomology forefathers: A.D. Hopkins, J.M. Miller, and F.P. Keen. Historical “worm dryness” problems from the European spruce bark beetle in the late 18th century in Europe are also discussed and provide a comparable story to the outbreaks in North America. Nonetheless, the book fails to successfully examine recent outbreaks from the southern pine beetle in the southeastern U.S.

Nikiforuk includes vibrant personal accounts of researchers from numerous science disciplines and locals impacted by the outbreaks to help weave the destructive tale of the bark beetles. Testimony from a wealth of Canadian and U.S. forest entomologists is scattered throughout the book, which effectively highlights the losses to these forests, the predisposing conditions of the outbreaks, and the hurdles encountered to preserve threatened ecosystems. Much of the book’s content emphasized the events during the peak of the outbreaks and in the wake of the tree mortality, with great detail on the mountain pine beetle outbreaks in Canada.

Pine bark beetles frequently reach outbreak status in overstocked, over-mature, and even-aged forest stands that can result, in part, from decades of effective fire suppression policies and timber management practices. Warm winter temperatures and droughts have further enhanced the susceptibility of forests to bark beetle-caused tree mortality and prolonged outbreaks. Nikiforuk effectively links these causal factors to the outbreaks described in the Empire of the Beetle. The author also highlights new challenges induced by climate change, with the greatest attention directed toward the range expansion of the mountain pine beetle into northern latitudes and higher elevations.

Nikiforuk briefly discusses bark beetle biology and the role of bark beetles as an agent of forest health during latent beetle population periods. The level of detail presented for this subject matter was appropriate for this book and did not feel too burdensome for non-entomologists. Empire of the Beetle addresses additional topics including attack behavior, pheromones, host resistance, interaction with invasive pests such as white pine blister rust, and bark beetles as a “bus” for transporting fungi and mites.

Empire of the Beetle effectively outlines the adversities encountered during a bark beetle outbreak, including the lack of funding or support for suppression efforts, opposing views on mitigation efforts, absence of research for effective mitigation measures, and coordination (or lack thereof) among local and federal governments and the public during attempts to manage an outbreak. The detrimental and long-lasting impacts of bark beetle outbreaks are further noted in the chapter “The Wake of the Beetle,” in which Nikiforuk depicts damage to watersheds, loss of and changes to the timber industries, economic declines experienced by local communities, increased wildfire concerns, and even influence on local artisans.

Nikiforuk’s inclusive list of past, present, and novel suppression tactics used or tested on bark beetles in the chapter “The War against the Insect Enemy” was entertaining and a notable contribution to the book. The days of applying DDT and lindane have now been replaced with the use of carbaryl and verbenone, although these techniques are sometimes less effective. We must not forget the more innovative techniques used for bark beetle suppression: detonating cord, radio waves, napalm, electrocution, fumigation of infested stems, drowning, liquid nitrogen, and arsenic, to name only a few. Nikiforuk also promotes more pioneering control techniques via bark beetle acoustics in the “Song of the Bark Beetle.” Numerous suppression techniques have a long history of limited success for control of bark beetle outbreaks; however, effective suppression strategies developed for southern pine beetle “spots” were not incorporated in the book.

Tangential information provided about the diverse and astonishing world of Coleopterans, although likely interesting to most readers, seemed out of context for this subject matter. Also, Nikiforuk fails to outline the current prevention efforts by federal and state governments to reduce the risk of future bark beetle outbreaks in North America. Discussing the southern pine beetle and western bark beetle prevention programs in the U.S. would have greatly improved this book.

In summary, Empire of the Beetle provides a comprehensive account of recent and historical bark beetle outbreaks in western North America, emphasizing the events during the peak of tree mortality and following its aftermath. This book would serve as a great introduction to bark beetles for non-entomologists, students, and those unfamiliar with these species and forest systems. I enjoyed reading the book and it did a superb job of illustrating some of my daily forest encounters.

Tom W. Coleman
USDA Forest Service, Forest Health Protection
Pacific Southwest Region
San Bernardino, CA 92408
E-mail: twcoleman@fs.fed.us

American Entomologist
Vol. 58, No.4, Winter 2012