Photos from the WFIWC Archives:
Insects and Damage

"Ghost Forest" beside the Tioga road north of Tenaya Lake in Yosemite N.P., 1924. The forest consisted of over-mature lodgepole pine when it became infested by the mountain pine beetle about 1896. Now, a young stand has begun to renew the forest. The man in lower center is F. C. Craighead, second Chief of the Division of Forest Insect Investigations, USDA Bureau of Entomology. Photo by J.M. Miller, 6 August 1924. Furniss 2007B, Fig. 9A. (see sequential photos 9B and 9C, below)

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Tenaya Ghost Forest, August 1953. Several snags still stand that are identifiable in Fig. 9A (above). Removal of the overmature stand by the mountain pine beetle has resulted in a pure stand of young lodgepole pine destined to continue this cycle. In the Rocky Mountains, where lodgepole pine cones are serotinous and fuel is far more plentiful, fire regenerates lodgepole pine. Furniss 2007B, Fig. 9B. (see sequential photos 9A above and 9C below)

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Tenaya Ghost Forest, August 1984. Some identifiable snags remain standing but the growing forest will soon leave no trace of the Ghost Forest for passing tourists to wonder about. Furniss 2007B, Fig. 9C. (see sequential photos 9A and 9B above)

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