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Help available to fight destructive pine beetle

The pine beetle has destroyed thousands of acres of pine timber in Florida.
Matt Bertone (NC State University)
/
via South Carolina Public Radio
The pine beetle has destroyed thousands of acres of pine timber in Florida.

Private landowners in Northeast Florida can apply for assistance fighting a pine beetle that has destroyed thousands of acres of timber in Florida.

A periodic beetle outbreak last struck between 1999 and 2002 in Florida, causing an estimated $59 million in timber losses.

The Florida Forest Service’s Southern Pine Beetle Assistance and Prevention Program offers partial reimbursement for activities like prescribed burning and the planting of longleaf or slash pine rather than loblolly pine, the beetle’s preferred species. 

Duval, Nassau, Clay, Putnam, St. Johns and Baker counties are among the 44 northern Florida counties where private forest landowners can apply for the program at FDACS.gov/SPBPrevention.

Dan Scanlan is a veteran journalist with almost 40 years as a radio, television and print reporter in the Jacksonville area, as well as years of broadcast work in the Northeast. You can reach Dan at dscanlan@wjct.org, (904) 607-2770 or on Twitter at @scanlan_dan.