...winter temperatures and fewer sustained freezes have allowed insects to over-winter here, causing outbreaks of aspen leaf-miners, spruce budworms and birch leaf scorch. In turn, dry, diseased trees are prime fuel for forest fires. "Each...

...rest of the Yukon, where forester Legare in his travels finds other insects - the northern spruce engraver, the aspen leaf miner, the willow miner - gaining an upper hand in unusual places in unexpected ways. "Weird things, unprecedented things...

...Alaska's Interior. Call it the attack of the five-millimeter larvae. The birch leaf miner, birch leaf roller, aspen leaf miner and spruce budworm munched through Interior tree canopies from May through early June. The insects are defoliators...

...brown. No tree deaths have been documented, but researchers suspect repeated heavy infestations can weaken birch. Aspen leaf miners have turned quaking aspen leaves from green to silver. The insects expanded from 1,400 acres in 2000 to 584...