Bark beetle catches rise by a third in Lithuania this year

Lithuania’s State Forest Service says it has caught about 30% more European spruce bark beetles this year than last year. The largest numbers in August were recorded in the Žemaitija region, where spruce forests produced more than twice the catches seen during the same period in 2025.

The service said unusually rainy weather through much of the summer probably caused the beetles to fly more intensively in August. “Unfavorable weather conditions limited the beetles’ flight, so part of their activity shifted to a later period,” it said in a statement.

The highest numbers so far have been recorded in southern central Lithuania. Traps in the Josvainiai, Dubrava and Punia forest districts caught an average of more than 20,000 beetles each. The lowest figures, several thousand per trap, came from the Grūšlaukė, Varniai and Užventis districts in western Lithuania.

Monitoring has not yet finished, but the service said it does not currently believe bark beetle damage will reach the threshold for a natural disaster. It also said no mass breeding hotspots have been identified so far.

Still, the unusually large population recorded this year has increased the risk of mass outbreak sites forming in parts of Lithuania in spring 2027. The service recommends continuing to monitor spruce forests and identifying new damage promptly.

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Unfavorable weather conditions limited the beetles’ flight, so part of their activity shifted to a later period.