Over 17,000 sal trees in Dehradun and Kalsi's forests of Uttarakhand are likely to be felled following a widespread infestation of the sal borer, a wood-boring beetle.
Forest officials said that nearly 15,000 sal trees in the Dehradun forest division have been infested by the sal borer, while around 5,000 trees are affected in the Kalsi forest division.
The sal borer primarily feeds on the tree's inner tissues, disrupting nutrient and water flow, which eventually causes the tree to dry out and die.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Neeraj Sharma explained that the larvae damage the inner tissues of the tree, and over a period, the tree dries up.
Affected trees are identified and felled after obtaining necessary permissions from the Union environment ministry.
Sharma said that felling remains the only established large-scale method to control the infestation, and research institutions have conducted experiments but no alternative method has yet been standardised.
Experts said that dense monoculture plantations of sal in the state are also considered more vulnerable to pest outbreaks.
Environmentalist and forest historian Ajay Singh Rawat attributed the recurring problem to monoculture practices and called for diversification.
