This is one of the tree borers that is helping to kill vast swaths of the Pine trees in the west. June is the month that the adults begin to feed on the trees and this one was in the middle of the forest. Surprisingly mellow, the beetle sat on my hand for a long time while I got pictures of it.

The larvae of the beetle burrow or eat their way through the bark and wood, leaving behind trails of excrement filled paths which quickens the death of a weakened tree. The large white larva prefers Pine, Fir, and Douglas Fir trees which is the majority of the trees in eastern Washington and much of the Sierras and Cascades for that matter.

There is not much that can be done at this point to stem the tide of the invasion. There are not any viable chemical solutions due to the widespread nature of the beetles. Natural methods are not as viable either. It is a product of our environment and the nature of the beetle that they have taken a solid hold of most of the forests in the west.

Without knowing what the beetle was, I shook it off my hand to make it fly away. If I had known that is is a borer beetle I would have squished the thing to do my part in helping take one more of the monsters away from killing the trees. But now I know, and know is half the battle, GI JOE......

Check out my blog @flemingfarm

For more information about our farm:
Fleming Family Farm
FLEMING FAMILY FARM, LLC
Sustainable & Organic Methods | Heirloom Produce

All images are original works of Fleming Family Farm unless otherwise notated and credited.

If you find this post useful or entertaining, your support is greatly appreciated by upvoting, resteeming, following, or setting us to autovote on SteemAuto!