(Opinion) Bear Flat Dispatch: Caterpillars, Bears and Poplar Trees

The region is being hit hard by caterpillars this spring with lots of bare poplar trees and greasy roads about. Soon the leaves will grow back, and all will be forgotten, but I have heard that some people will need to replant parts of their gardens because the caterpillars cleaned out what was up.

We normally are not hit too hard here at Bear Flat by caterpillars, but we sure are this year. 

The first I noticed was when one of our trail cameras west of Cache Creek started sending me weird-looking photos that turned out to be a blob of caterpillars on the camera. Then we were getting photos of bears licking up the critters on a driveway. Then the bears progressed to breaking down the smaller poplar trees to get at their food. 

Some of the trees are fairly sized, but the claw marks indicate that they have been climbing up until their weight brings it all down. The photo shows one such culprit eating among broken-down trees.

The final evidence I found was a fresh semi-solid bear turd full of partially digested caterpillars.  Literally the “proof in the pudding” (sorry!).

It seems like our trees are always taking a hit from something. It was 20 years ago this summer when the pine beetle infestation first hit here at Bear Flat. I logged out the dead pine while they were still suitable for the mill. That exposed the formerly sheltered spruce to more direct heat during a long drought period, and many of them have been slowly dying off since then.

On top of that, we have what seems like a small but steady population of spruce beetles that seem to go for the larger trees. Also, our poplar trees in more exposed areas have been dying off for many years due to the drought. I guess the one good thing is that we have not had a major wildfire go through and wipe everything out.

The ground soaked up a lot of moisture this spring from the melting snow, and the cooler temperatures and showers this spring are likely helpful too, so hopefully the trees can rejuvenate a bit this year.  Now if only the poplar trees could survive the latest abuse from black bears, all would be good!