The Bark Beetle of Šumava

2018

11min

In the National Park of Šumava, in the south of Czech Republic, an invasive species of insect, the bark beetle, is eating the wood of the spruce tree, causing serious damage to the forest since the early 2000s. The forest, already weakened by the intensive spruce monoculture that was going on in Šumava during decades, couldn’t resist to the invasion of beetle. The extent of the destructions leads in 2011 to a large political controversy opposing the administration of the park to some environmental NGOs – two conception of the relation between man and nature were facing eachother. Meanwhile, the beetle gather his strenght and fight for his survival…