In an effort to stop the bark beetle typhoid, environmental protection officers will be inspecting private and public forests more frequently from Wednesday, according to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

Environmental officers will focus on inspecting spruce and pine forests, as well as looking for green spruce wilt, windbreaks and stored wood, and will monitor the forest for a favourable environment for the spread of the pest.

Where bark beetle damage is found, forest owners will be informed and obliged to clean up and remove the wood immediately. Coniferous wood stores in logging sites will also be inspected.

„These requirements are in place to prevent bark beetles that have matured in the wood from transferring to healthy trees. The bark beetle, by gnawing on the tree under the bark, weakens the spruce trees, causing them to wither," said Tadeusz Ablacinski, Director of the Forest Control Department of the Department of Environmental Protection.
Environmental protection officers remind that forest owners, managers and users may be subject to administrative sanctions for violation of the forest sanitary rules if the conditions of the served mandatory order are not complied with.