A Guide to Common Forest Pests in Georgia
Terry Price, Forest Health Specialist, Georgia Forestry Commission
Animal Damage
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The animals that are damaging to forestry in Georgia are the beaver, deer, rabbit, certain burrowing rodents and seed-eating birds.
Beaver are beneficial to water conservation and wildlife habitat development, but some timber producers can suffer substantial timber losses when timber stands are flooded. Based on a Georgia Forestry Commission beaver damage survey in 1975, the total damage to pine and hardwood was estimated at $45 million statewide. Between 1967 and 1975, the area of damage increased by 128 percent, with over 287,000 acres being inundated in 1975.
Trapping is an effective method in reducing beaver in local areas, but it must be kept up over a long period for complete control.
Damage estimates to forest trees by deer for the State are not collected on a regular basis, but isolated areas of damage have exceeded 100 acres. Deer damage young pine stands by feeding on the terminals of recently planted pine seedlings. Damage to pine seedlings appears to be heaviest in February and March where natural browse has been damaged by late frosts. In 1985 in a middle Georgia county, approximately 109 acres of seedlings were ruined by deer. A seedling survival inspection revealed that over 85% of the seedlings had been clipped down to mid-stem (Figure 64). The landowner was forced to replant the entire field. Christmas trees and young trees in seed orchards are often damaged when antlered bucks use them for scraping posts (Figure 65).
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Figure 64 - Deer damage to one year old loblolly seedling.
Photo by GFC Archives |
Figure 65 - Deer scrape damage on eastern red cedar.
Photo by GFC Archives |
Figure 66 - Squirrel gnawing damage.
Photo by Terry Price, GFC |
Seedlings can be treated with a repellent prior to planting to discourage deer from feeding on them. Seed orchard trees can be wrapped with various materials such as heavy kraft paper or burlap.
Rabbits damage seedlings by gnawing or biting them off at various heights. There are two signs in the field that will help foresters determine whether the seedlings were damaged by deer or rabbits:
- Deer clip the seedlings straight across and leave a ragged edge; rabbits clip them off at an angle (Figure (64).
- Droppings will usually be present. Rabbit pellets are usually deposited at the base or near the base of damaged seedlings. Deer droppings are deposited at random throughout the area. It is not uncommon to find droppings from both animals in the same area. Rabbit droppings are round, whereas deer droppings are oval (Figure 64).
Squirrels are not considered pests of forest trees, however, city trees can be seriously damaged when natural foods are limited. Shade trees can be completely stripped of their bark on most of the branches (Figure 66). Heavy damages have been reported on maples and other thin barked species. Isolated trees can be banned with metal flashing to prevent squirrels from climbing in them. Trees growing next to buildings and other objects cannot be adequately protected by banding. Trapping squirrels in live traps and transporting them to less populated areas has not proven effective either.
Several species of scratching birds can consume enough pine seed to render artifically seeded areas worthless. Pine seed should be treated with a repellent before they are sown or broadcast. Table One lists some of the more common methods of controlling/preventing animal tests. Be sure to check with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources before applying any control to an animal population. Game laws change periodically depending on animal population trends.
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