LAIST.COM - If you had plans to visit the Crystal Lake recreation area in the San Gabriel Mountains and Angeles National Forest this week, you should change them. Officials closed the area Tuesday to spray insecticide on pine trees to protect them from a tree-colonizing beetle.
The western pine beetle is small, about 3 to 5 millimeters, but it can cause big damage to pine trees around this time of year. That's when the little brown bugs exit dead trees to find living ones to tunnel into and lay their larvae. Angeles Forest officials say drought and the western pine beetle have killed nearly 200 trees in the area.
Tim Paine studies pest management in forests at the University of California, Riverside. He said treating trees with insecticides in campgrounds and areas used by people is part of the Forest Service’s policy.