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State Forester Randy Dye says
various foreign-born pests and diseases are killing half the state's timber harvest.
He says insects and disease cause tree mortality losses of about 138 million
cubic feet per year.
The European-spawned gypsy moth defoliated 604,000 acres of West Virginia
forest in 2001 and 132,000 acres in 2002, mostly oak.
Beech bark disease has spread from the Eastern Panhandle into the
Monongahela National Forest.
Scientists say dogwood anthracnose has killed at least 40 percent of the
spring-blooming tree.
Other insects are attacking West Virginia's hemlock and balsam fir populations.
West Virginia has a $3.2 billion-dollar-a-year timber industry.
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