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

2. Monitoring program:
Treatment area
16 plots
Untreated area
7 plots

3. No mortality in the townsite in 2008

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

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

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

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

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

9. 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.

10. 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”.

11. 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

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

13. 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)