File:1930. Insect cages used to collection slash insects in ponderosa pine slash relations study. Klamath Falls, Oregon. (34229210893).jpg

Insect cages used to collection slash insects in ponderosa pine slash relations study. Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Photo by: J.A. Beal Date: September 1930

Credit: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region, State and Private Forestry, Forest Health Protection. Collection: Bureau of Entomology Collection; La Grande, Oregon. Image: BUR-6843

Note: From a 1977 oral history interview with Robert L. Furniss, conducted by R.C. Larson, page 6:

 "... [I joined] Beal in the studies he was conducting up at Keno, at Camp Two, Weyerhaeuser Timber Company. He was studying two things there. One was the possibility of removing bark beetles in an active logging operation, removing them from the woods and in effect sanitizing the woods at no added cost. In other words, allow the logs to absorb the beetles and then take them down to the mill and kill them down there.

The other aspect was the possibility of using solar heat to control bark beetles in down logs, such as had been done with lodgepole pines to some extent. Of course, ponderosa pine is a thick bark species with much greater insulating quality. Well, Jim (Beal) had a study that related to the incidence of the sun’s rays as they hit downed logs, what was the best, most favorable angle of a down log in relationship to the sun’s rays. My own part was as a recorder of temperature. Under summer sunshine, some of these sub-cortical temperatures went up to a hundred and forty degrees or so, more than adequate to kill the brood. But even though the temperatures could be achieved, it meant coming and turning the logs several times. And the amount of effort that went into that was so great that you couldn’t afford to do it. It was much, much cheaper to fell and burn." The full interview is available here: <a href="http://www.foresthistory.org/Research/FurnissRL.pdf" rel="nofollow">www.foresthistory.org/Research/FurnissRL.pdf</a>

To learn more about this photo collection see: Wickman, B.E., Torgersen, T.R. and Furniss, M.M. 2002. Photographic images and history of forest insect investigations on the Pacific Slope, 1903-1953. Part 2. Oregon and Washington. American Entomologist, 48(3), p. 178-185.

For additional historical forest entomology photos, stories, and resources see the Western Forest Insect Work Conference site: <a href="http://wfiwc.org/content/history-and-resources" rel="nofollow">wfiwc.org/content/history-and-resources</a>