The forests in the San Bernardino Mountains and the
Peninsular Ranges are seriously drought stressed. In addition,
some have diseases (dwarf mistletoe, annosus root disease)
which also cause severe stress. Stressed trees can't produce
enough resin to protect against pathogens. Examples of these
include the California flatheaded borer, mountain pine beetle,
red turpentine beetle, Jeffrey-pine beetle and western pine
bark beetle. The fir engraver attacks fir trees while the
Ips beetle is a scavenger that attacks the tops of trees,
along with slash and seriously distressed trees.
Trees in the San Bernardinos are subject to drought, air
pollution, and complexes of pests, not just beetles. Deciduous
species are affected the same as the coniferous species;
black oaks there are suffering from drought stress and also
defoliation by the fruit-tree leafroller.
(Entomologist Dr. Laura Merrill, personal
communication)
Location Map:
Shaded relief map of the Cajon, Silverwood Lake, Lake
Arrowhead, Butler Peak, Devore, North San Bernardino, Hamilton
Mountain and Keller Peak area. Color overlays show area of processed
imagery.
Click on the image above to view a larger JPEG image in a new browser
window
Image 1: Mosaic of images from flight over Silverwood Lake,
Crestline, Lake Arrowhead and Green Valley Lake.
Click on the image above to view a larger JPEG image in a new browser
window at full resolution
Healthy vegetation is bright green; stressed or dying
vegetation is yellow-brown in this false-color depiction.
(This RGB image shows reflected red light at 650 nm in red, reflected NIR at 850 nm in green, and thermal IR at 10.5 um in blue.)
FireMapper has
been developed through a Research Joint Venture with Space Instruments,
Inc., and support from the National Fire Plan, Forest Service International
Programs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Joint Fire Sciences Program, and the U.S. Agency
for International Development.
Disclaimer: Trade names, commercial products, and enterprises
are mentioned solely for information. No endorsement by the U.S. Department
of Agriculture is implied.