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Jim Wolford wrote:
>David, I'd be interested in seeing what you sent in to the Herald on the
>brown spruce longhorn beetle (that they didn't publish). Thanks for any
>help. I am one of the Friends of Point Pleasant Park, just because of the
>beetle issue and the forest "experts" crying wolf too many times. Jim
>----------
>
Hi Jim & All: Aug 11, 2007
My unused VoP letter is pasted below. Am sending this to Naturens as
others may be interested.
DW
START OF PASTE\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Dear Editor: Mar 28, 2007
The figure that accompanies the article "Closing in on a destructive
beetle" (March 28) is not a brown spruce longhorn beetle (BSLB), as
stated. It is a male white-spotted sawyer (Monchamus s. scutellatus).
In addition, the BSLB is not really destructive. Some incorrectly
suppose that it is destructive because they have failed to understand
the interactions of weather, tree condition and bark feeding insects.
If the BSLB is such an aggressive tree killer, why did it sit around
in Point Pleasant Park doing nothing for more than 10 years ? The
answer is simply that during this period of moderate weather, the trees
were in good condition and consequently were able to coexist with bark
feeding insects, as trees have done for millennia.
But, after several years of unusually dry summers, trees started
dying in Point Pleasant Park and the BSLB was present in the park. In
the Annapolis Valley, large numbers of spruce and fir died in these same
years and the BSLB was absent.
Yours truly, David H. Webster, Kentville
phone 678-7824
END OF PASTE\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
>From: David & Alison Webster <dwebster@glinx.com>
>Reply-To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
>Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2007 09:25:21 -0300
>To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
>Subject: Re: [NatureNS] professions and nature
>
>Hi Mary & All, Aug 6, 2007
>
>In this instance of an incorrect photo being used to illustrate the
>BSLB, I wrote to VoP pointing out this error and made a few comments
>about how the BSLB 'problem' had been mishandled. My letter was not used
>and no correction was printed so this tells me that not even the Editor
>worries about accuracy.
>
>Sometimes the treatment is alarmist and misleading, as in '..deadly
>toxic methane...' being released by composting and attempts to set the
>record straight in such cases seem to routinely get diverted to the
>circular file.
>
>Yt, DW, Kentville
>
>
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