Spruce Health Monitoring 2008 Meeting with Waskesiu Community Council October 24/08

Monitoring program: Treatment area 16 plots Untreated area 7 plots

No mortality in the townsite in 2008

In 2008: Average defoliation decreased outside the townsite Average defoliation in townsite ~23%

Average spruce health remains “good” in the townsite and improves to “fair to good” in the surrounding area.

The built up portion of the townsite supports a second year of high defoliation.

Spruce health in the built up portion of the townsite declines to “Good to Fair”

Area of high defoliation and declining white spruce health This area is referred to as the “core” or built up portion of the townsite

Defoliation in the townsite core is higher than on peripheral areas. The core area is experiencing a similar level of defoliations as observed in 2003.

Core area - spruce health has declined to “ good to fair” and is lower than it was in 2003 Peripheral area tree health improves yearly and is currently “good to excellent”.

Regional situation 2002 outbreak evident on a Regional Scale Provincially- Moderate to Severe defoliation peaked in 2002 at 670,000 ha Declining since 2007 moderate to severe defoliation 90,000ha 2008 further decline localized areas of moderate to severe defoliation. Likely no spraying for budworm n the provincial forest in 2009

Park Situation 2003 Moderate to Severe defoliation 2008 - Moderate to Severe defoliation , ~ 2,600 and 100 ha respectively.

Management options Continue current operation (CO) CO plus step up tree planting activities and install fences to protect from browsing CO plus ground application of pesticide, Foray 48B, to targeted trees within core area CO plus aerial spray of smaller core area (100 ha) CO plus aerial spray of historic treatment area (310 ha)