State’s large forests vanishing

[Arkansas] University of Arkansas researchers are using cutting-edge spatial technologies to study the aftermath of an insect infestation that has devastated red oak populations in Arkansas and Missouri. By combining this research with field work, they seek patterns that might help explain what trees are vulnerable to infestation, thus helping forestry professionals determine future forest management practices. The red oak borer, a middle-sized, nocturnal brown “long-horned” beetle, lived in relative obscurity in red oak trees in the Ozark Mountains until 1999, when forestry professionals and researchers began noticing oaks dying in droves.