Bug Blight : Bulldozers Clear Beetle-Infested Pine Tree Lot

Thousands of young pines that were ravaged by hordes of beetles have been cut down and bulldozed into piles at a Christmas tree lot at the north end of Van Nuys Airport.

The 3,500 Monterey pines, about two to six feet in height, could not be saved and were cleared to stop the hungry beetles from spreading to nearby areas, said Stacey Geere, public information officer for Van Nuys Airport.

Airport workers noticed last month that the trees were turning brown, and then found they were infested by ips beetles--small, winged insects that attack pines weakened by drought or other causes.

Geere said workers tried spraying a test area with the insecticide lindane, but with little effect on the voracious beetles. A random check of trees throughout the five-acre lot indicated that every tree was infested, prompting the decision to cut them all, she said.

Officials said the infestation probably stemmed from neglect during a period of several months in which the trees were not tended.

The farm operated for years as the Green Acres Christmas tree farm under a lease with the airport. But the farm’s private operator decided not to renew the lease when it expired in March. Even earlier, in November, the operator curtailed regular maintenance, Geere said.

When airport workers took over in March, the trees already “were a little bit dry,” Geere said. She said the workers watered and cared for the trees until last month, when the infestation was discovered.

Mike Pearson, an agricultural inspector with the Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner, said pine trees aren’t suited to the area’s desert climate and are ripe for attack when not carefully attended.

“I would think that somewhere in . . . the process of changing hands from the previous owners to the airport authority, that the trees were either undernourished or under-watered . . . and they were subject to attack from these beetles,” Pearson said.

Airport officials had planned to donate the trees “at Christmas time to charities, so we’re a little disappointed as well,” Geere said. She said the trees will be chipped and converted to mulch.