NSF awards UAA $605,353 to study spruce beetle kill in Denali

A spruce beetle outbreak has already killed white spruce across much of southern Denali National Park and Preserve. It is now pushing north into Alaska's Interior forests. The National Science Foundation is funding research into why some trees die and others survive. The agency awarded the University of Alaska Anchorage $605,353 on Aug. 11 for the study.

The work runs from Aug. 15 through July 31, 2030. Patrick F. Sullivan is the principal investigator. The award, No. 2539540, came through the NSF's Arctic Natural Sciences program as a standard grant.

The NSF award abstract says the findings will help predict how outbreaks affect timber and other forest resources and guide efforts to prevent future ones. The results are meant to shape forest management decisions in Alaska and beyond. The project will also train students and create teaching materials for primarily undergraduate institutions.

The outbreak has already worked its way into the park. The National Park Service says the beetle infestation in the Denali area has primarily spread from the south, with white spruce dying across much of the southern portion of Denali National Park and Preserve and along the Parks Highway. Park Service monitoring documents 45% to 60% spruce mortality in forested areas in and around Denali within the last decade. The U.S. Forest Service reported spruce beetle activity was down considerably statewide in 2024, with 35,100 acres mapped, the lowest since 2015, while outbreak activity continued in the Denali and Matanuska-Susitna boroughs.

Sullivan's team will use a Denali monitoring network of nearly 50 long-term plots. Field crews will measure tree growth and defense traits, stand structure, soil nutrient availability and understory vegetation, using tree-ring analysis, soil respiration measurements and DNA sequencing of root-associated fungi.

The study also looks at what happens after the trees die. As infestation cuts the flow of carbon to roots and ectomycorrhizal fungi, the abstract says, fungal communities and carbon and nutrient cycling are expected to shift, reshaping belowground biogeochemistry and post-disturbance forest succession.

The Denali Citizens Council wrote in February 2022 that warmer temperatures may let beetles push farther north, raising concerns for area landowners about fire risk, habitat change and aesthetic disturbance.

The project includes public talks at Denali National Park and collaborations with artists, alongside partnerships with land managers.