Hemlock Looper Insect Damage Aerial Surveys in Québec, 1967-Present

Annual aerial survey data records damage caused by the hemlock looper insect in Québec forests. The Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs (MFFP) has conducted these surveys since 1967, with updates provided only when damage is observed. Data is provided in SHP format and was last updated in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling the spatial and temporal spread of hemlock looper outbreaks based on annual aerial survey data.
• Assessing forest vulnerability and damage severity based on observed insect attack patterns.
• Correlating insect damage with environmental or climatic factors using the long-term time series.
• Informing forest management and pest control strategies based on historical and current damage sectors.

Strengths

• Provides a long-term time series with annual data collection starting in 1967.
• Data collection method is specified as targeted aerial surveys over predetermined sectors.
• License is clearly stated as CC-BY-4.0, permitting broad reuse.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data is updated only when damage is observed, which may create gaps in the annual series.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs (MFFP), Government of Québec.

Collection Method

Aerial surveys conducted in sectors determined by previous damage, population predictions, and field observations.

Time Range

1967 to present

Freshness

Updated annually; last update recorded on 2026-04-22.

Geography

Québec, Canada