- It is not financially defensible for us as an authority to spend so much money on traps after we have taken part in the study, says Kerstin Ström who is project manager at the Swedish Forest Agency. 

Traps ineffective

Last year, the Swedish Forest Agency released around 2,700 bark drill traps in protected forests in Götaland and Svealand.

An investment that cost approximately SEK 5 million.

This year, the traps will no longer be used to catch spruce bark beetles.

Skogforsk recently presented a report that showed that these traps have a dubious effect.

According to Kerstin Ström, previous studies of this size have not been carried out in a Swedish environment.

But why have you invested so much in traps when there is apparently not much evidence that they are effective in Swedish forests?  

- Traps have been one of the few measures we have been able to use to combat forest bark beetles in the protected forest areas.

In some of those areas, for example, felling is not allowed.

Of course, we had hoped that the study would show that they were more effective, she says. 

Effective for individual landowners

In Kalmar County, the Swedish Forest Agency last year set a total of 335 traps in seven areas.

In Kronoberg, 255 traps were used in five areas.

But despite the fact that the Swedish Forest Agency does not continue to use traps, Kerstin Ström thinks that it can be a good alternative for individual landowners. 

- I think we caught a lot of spruce bark beetles last year in the traps and saved quite a few spruces in that way.

As an individual landowner, you do not have the large labor cost as in our project.

Then traps can be worth investing in, she says.

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Forest consultant Karin Folkesson notes the coordinates of the bark drill trap when the trainee Simon Almén puts it in the ground.

Photo: Tomas Nyström / SVT