The Southern Pine beetle is continuing to cause damage to pine trees in Franklin County

The Southern Pine beetle is continuing to cause damage to pine trees in Franklin County.

The southern pine beetle is considered one the southeast's most damaging insect species and periodic outbreaks in Florida have resulted in millions of cubic feet of pine timber killed on thousands of acres.

There was a relatively large outbreak after Hurricane Michael in 2018 and while beetle numbers have dropped since then, there are still local property owners seeing their pine trees killed by the insects.

Local extension director Eric Lovestrand said there is not much that can be done to stop the beetles except to cut down affected trees and burn them.

The beetles live under the bark so you can't spray them and generally they are hard to notice until you see the pine leaves turn yellow and die which means it is already too late.

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