Gumi City, Full-Scale Response to Pine Wilt Disease Control

Proactive Pest Control Efforts Through Modubeogi and Prevention Tree Injections

Utilizing Forest Biomass from Harvested Products to Contribute to Pest Control Budget Savings

Gumi City in Gyeongbuk Province has been making every effort to control pine wilt disease by treating over 90,000 dead pine trees from November last year to mid-April this year. The city is focusing on intensive control measures such as preventive tree injections, clear-cutting severely damaged areas, and forest fire prevention forest management targeting pine trees in the Gumi National Industrial Complex and other areas with high conservation value.

The Gumi National Industrial Complex is an area of high importance for control and management, including Geumosan Provincial Park, Mueul, and Okseong, requiring national-level measures.

To identify pine trees infected with pine wilt disease, which is the top priority for control within the National Industrial Complex, precise drone surveillance is conducted. Confirmed infected trees are managed systematically by attaching QR codes to dead trees after obtaining coordinate values through video analysis for thorough tracking.

Instead of individual tree treatment, clear-cutting of 9 hectares was proactively carried out with the consent of landowners in areas repeatedly severely damaged each year. Reforestation with tree species reflecting the landowners’ opinions will be managed in the areas where clear-cutting was performed.

Aerial photo of Modubegi.

Additionally, the city has contributed to reducing control costs by utilizing forest residues as forest biomass through a business agreement with the shredding company Hanlim Engineering. Special inspections and guidance on unauthorized handling of infected pine trees were conducted targeting 20 locations, including pine tree handling companies and firewood farms, urging active cooperation to prevent the artificial spread of pine wilt disease.

The city is mobilizing all administrative resources to treat all dead trees during the intensive control period until mid-April. Even after the control period, it plans to make every effort to establish systematic control strategies and optimal control measures for early detection and timely treatment of pine wilt disease through year-round surveillance, including aerial surveillance using helicopters, drone surveillance, and sample collection of dead trees by the surveillance control team.

Mayor Kim Jang-ho stated, “We will strengthen on-site control management through continuous surveillance, proactive control strategy establishment, and active introduction of control measures,” and added, “We ask for the continuous interest and cooperation of citizens to protect the pine forests.”