IRISH forest owners have called for steps to be taken to protect the country from the eight-toothed spruce bark beetle after it was discovered in Scotland for the first time. 

Ips typographus has caused widespread damage to forests across Europe, but has so far not been found on the island of Ireland. However, much of the timber processed by its sawmills comes from Scotland. 

Recently, a single case of the pest was found in Fife and, forestry officials say, there is an increased risk associated with the importation of those logs.

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A statement from the Irish Forest Owners (IFO) read: “The IFO wishes to highlight the continued risks involved in the importation of logs that have not been debarked onto this island. 

“We ask the Minister for Agriculture to take urgent action to deal with this increasing risk to protect the future of the forest industry in Ireland.

“Specifically, we suggest they liaise with their counterpart in Northern Ireland to adopt an All-Island approach to defend our Protected Zone Status against this and other bark beetle pests. 

“Unless the Department can absolutely guarantee that the inspections at ports throughout the Island of Ireland are sufficient to prevent the importation of the bark beetle, a ban on the importation of timber that is not bark-free must be issued.

“All foresters, forest owners and other stakeholders are asked to be vigilant for unusual ill-health in trees or evidence of bark beetle, and to report any concerns to forestprotection@agriculture.gov.ie or by using the Tree Check App which is freely available at www.treecheck.net.” 

As we have reported, a single case of the pest was discovered on a trap in a Fife woodland, but forestry officials believe it is a "one-off". 

The beetle, which has already devastated woodlands in parts of the UK, poses a particular threat to spruce trees, which are key to Scotland's forestry industry. 

James Nott, head of tree health at Scottish Forestry, said: “Although this is the first time we have found Ips typographus in Scotland, we currently believe it is a one-off and has simply hitchhiked here. To put it into some context, it is one beetle of its kind that Forest Research experts have found amongst the 6,500 other samples."