Drought puts Ga. pine trees in jeopardy - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Drought puts Ga. pine trees in jeopardy

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Despite all the rain recently, we're still in an ongoing drought that's putting a vital part of Georgia's timber industry in jeopardy.

Georgia Forestry Commission Rangers say the drought is making pine trees more susceptible to disease and insects.

Pine beetles feed on trees that are left in bad shape as result of dry weather.

"When the bark beetle bores in through the outer bark, which is dead, and into the cambium layer, they make galleries and lay eggs and the larvae actually girdle the tree. They eat that cambium layer and that will kill the tree," said Chuck Norvell with the Georgia Forestry Commission.

Timber in Georgia is valued at more than a half-billion dollars a year.

 

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