Mountain Pine Beetle a Hot Topic in British Columbia

The reality of our stark future in the BC Interior has started to hit home. Mayors of small BC towns are making the ravaging effects of the Mountain Pine Beetle a hot agenda topic at this week's Union of BC Municipalities conference.

As widely reported in the media over the past couple of weeks, initial BC Ministry of Forests estimates (2003 report) are holding true: currently 40 per cent of BC's pine forests are dead. Predictions of 80 per cent beetle kill by 2011 have become widely accepted. The utter lack of real action by government and forest services is beginning to alarm the -particularly small- BC towns and communities that are literally surrounded by large areas of standing dead timber.

I mentioned in earlier posts that the hazards of simply leaving the first red, then grey, dead trees standing where they died goes beyond the obvious danger of raging forest fires. Just remember what happened at Kelowna in 2003; and that was perfectly healthy, fully alive forest. It would not take a fire even approaching that magnitude to quickly rage completely out of control through large swathes of beetle kill forest.
Government officials who work in the woods are now touting the dangers of flooding. It goes beyond the fact that the lack of tree roots to absorb water -and to hold the wet soil together, particularly on the hillsides- will increase the quantity of ground water. In addition, the lack of forest canopy will have a multiplying effect; in that more snow will fall to the ground rather than evaporating in the canopy, AND the lack of needles will no longer help to regulate the rate of snow melt. (Vancouver Sun article).

FINALLY the time has come where those in a position for action have stopped saying, "All we need is a cold winter!" and have started to make real efforts in the forests. Perhaps BC is feeling shamed by the concerted efforts of Alberta (controlled burns, fire guards, pheremones . .. 7,900 hectares were sent up in smoke yesterday at Banff National Park). Federal Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn promised $250 million to those gathered at the UBCM Convention. (Source).