Acadia | Caroline Kanaskie

Protecting coastal pitch pine in the northeastern U.S. by predicting southern pine beetle risk

I am presenting our work at the 2024 Acadia Science Symposium at Schoodic Institute.

Are the pines in our parks at risk?

The problem

We've found southern pine beetle (SPB) in Maine, and we expect it will continue to expand its range northward with warming winters. The rocky summits of Acadia National Park are home to pitch pines, which would be SPB's host tree in the region. We need to know more about these pitch pine woodlands to understand SPB risk there.

Our idea

Host tree density and winter temperatures are important factors for SPB population growth and survival. In northeastern National Parks like Acadia, Fire Island, and Cape Cod, we do not have much data on the pitch pine forests there. Our goal is to collect and interpret data from these forests.

Our tools

We conducted prism sweeps and took hemispherical photos in over 190 plots. We measured over 1200 trees.

We placed 5 temperature loggers in each park, recording hourly temperature from summer 2024 - summer 2024.

Screenshot 2024-09-19 at 10.08.51 AM.png

This work is funded by my 2023 Second Century Stewardship Fellowship, which is supported by the US Department of Interior National Park Service, Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park, the David Evans Shaw Family Foundation, and the National Park Foundation.