Photo: A view looking south from the Mogollon Rim towards Sedona, Arizona with ponderosa pine mortality scattered across the landscape.

2021 Forest Health Conditions in Arizona and New Mexico

A collection of photos and information about major tree damage observed across the forests of Arizona and New Mexico in 2021.

USDA Forest Service, Forest Health Protection

February 17, 2022

Introduction

The Forest Health Protection staff of the Southwestern Region provides assistance and expertise to Federal, State, and Tribal land managers in Arizona and New Mexico concerning forest health conditions and issues. Forest Health provides advice and support for projects to help prevent or suppress insect and disease outbreaks. Annually, surveys are conducted to monitor forest health conditions and provide land managers with information on current issues, with an emphasis on detecting insect and disease activity.

The Forest Health Protection program is a part of the USDA Forest Service and works collaboratively with Arizona State Department of Forestry and Fire Management and New Mexico Forestry Division to conduct annual aerial detection and ground surveys of forest health conditions. Satellite remote sensing is also used to gather information on forest health conditions. These surveys assess forest insect and disease issues throughout the Southwestern Region (Arizona and New Mexico). This includes damage such as tree mortality caused by bark beetles, tree defoliation by leaf/needle feeding caterpillars, tree discoloration or branch flagging caused by pathogens, and abiotic factors like drought and hail damage.

This story map is organized by different types of forests found in the Southwestern United States. Starting in the lower elevations with common damages seen in oak and pinyon-juniper forests and moving up in elevation through ponderosa pine and mixed conifer forests, culminating in the subalpine forest that are populated by spruce, corkbark fir and aspen. Use the headings across the top of the screen to navigate to areas of interest or simply scroll down.

Figure 1. Over the last 22 years the Southwestern US has experienced multiple extended drought periods with recovery periods that are relatively short. In the current drought event, exceptional drought has affected more than 40% of the Southwestern US. Source: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DmData/TimeSeries.aspx

Photo: US Drought Monitor status map of the United States for June 29, 2021. Source: ttps://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/about.aspx

Photo: Increasing temperatures have a serious effect on vegetation moisture retention. Over half of the states of Arizona and New Mexico experienced above normal and much above normal temperatures during the months of July thru September. Source: https://climas.arizona.edu/sw-climate/recent-sw-temps

Two Photos: (Left) Oak stands located in the Santa Rita Mountains exhibiting drought related defoliation prior to the onset of monsoonal moisture. Note the brown discoloration and defoliation on the oaks. The only green crowns are junipers and pines. (Right) The same oak stands following the onset of monsoonal moisture. Note the lush green color of the new foliage compared to the defoliation and discoloration prior to the monsoon.

Photo: Mortality associated with Biscogniauxia spp. observed in Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains.

Photo: Juniper dieback (red trees) in the Guadalupe Mountains, Lincoln National Forest.

Photo: Juniper dieback (red-yellow trees) observed during July aerial surveys over the Coconino National Forest and the Wupatki National.

Photo: Juniper with severe dieback experiencing resprouting in the Fall on the Coconino National Forest.

Photo: Pinyon pine mortality (reddish trees) on the Kaibab National Forest.

Two Photos - On the left, a close-up view of pitch tubes caused by ips beetles tunneling into the bark and on the right, a ground view of pinyon ips-caused mortality in pinyon pine on Red Mountain in northern AZ.

Photo: Ponderosa pine and juniper mortality on the Coconino National Forest north of Sedona, AZ.

This photo is an example of the yellow discoloration we are seeing region wide, this is from the San Mateo mountains which are a part of the Cibola National Forest in central New Mexico. Our field visits are mostly finding insignificant insect damage that has never been known to cause major damage such as weevil feeding in addition to early needle loss. We are seeing second and third year needles browning early in the year, likely a water conservation tactic for the trees.

Photo: White fir mortality on the Sandia Mountains of the Cibola National Forest. This area has recently also had a Douglas-fir Tussock Moth outbreak that suppressed the health of the forest.

Photo: This photo shows typical damage by red belt winter injury observed during an aerial detection survey flight over Smokey Bear Ranger District, Lincoln National Forest.

Photo: Reddened needles of a white fir affected by red belt winter injury.

Photo: A view across the southern side of the Santa Barbara Divide in northern New Mexico in the Pecos Wilderness, Santa Fe National Forest. Spruce mortality (grey and red trees) is affecting a large part of these Spruce-fir forests

Spruce mortality is extensive in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona and this photo shows severe spruce mortality across White Mountain Apache Tribal Lands. Mortality is occurring in all size classes, mostly resulting from several consecutive years of spruce aphid outbreaks.

Photo: Overstory mortalityin an aspen stand located on the Coconino National Forest. Note the dying overstory and complete lack of aspen regeneration or recruitment.

Photo: Planting of the field site located on Mescalero Apache Tribal Lands in 2021.

Photo: Ponderosa pine mortality (red trees) on the Gila National Forest.