Impacts of Nantucket pine tip moth, Rhyacionia frustrana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) management on rotation-length economic returns of loblolly pine.

Abstract

The Nantucket pine tip moth, Rhyacionia frustrana, is primarily a pest of young pines (Pinus L.) in the southern United States and parts of Central America. Feeding damage can result in terminal mortality, stunted tree growth, and occasional tree death. Further, long-term impacts of Nantucket pine tip moth feeding can lead to persistent growth reductions throughout the entire harvest rotation; however, there is a dearth of new research on Nantucket pine tip moth-especially economic impacts-over the last several decades, and information is lacking regarding the economic impact of Nantucket pine tip moth damage over an entire stand rotation. To address this issue, we evaluated the economic impact of Nantucket pine tip moth feeding in a loblolly pine stand in North Carolina over a 23-yr harvest rotation. Our economic analysis suggested that under the right circumstances, Nantucket pine tip moth control could be economically worthwhile-but this would depend on several extrinsic factors, including site index, tree growth rate, market value of the products, and the cost of management activities. The need to manage Nantucket pine tip moth currently varies both spatially and temporally, and our data shows that this stochasticity will likely persist throughout the harvest rotation, and that Nantucket pine tip moth treatment should be carefully considered on a site-by-site basis.