commentBeetles Threaten British Columbia Forest Catastrophe
A plague of mountain pine beetles in British Columbia’s lodgepole pine forests has so far claimed 17.3 million acres (7 million ha) of forest. Temperatures in British Columbia haven’t been warmer in 8,000 years, and global warming is unfolding 50 years in advance of forecasts in some areas, Richard Hebda, a curator of botany and earth history at the Royal B.C. Museum, told the Toronto Globe and Mail.
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No longer regenerated by periodic burning by Native Americans, the aging and stressed forest is ripe for beetles, while warm winters are allowing beetle populations to grow and spread unchecked. The outbreak is so serious that scientists speculate the forest may never come back—at least not without an ice age to subdue the beetles. In the United States, officials are watching for an outbreak, according to a report in the Washington Post, but damage could be contained by the more fractured nature of the U.S. lodgepole pine population.
The regional pulp and paper industry in B.C. is benefiting from a glut of wood chips due to accelerated harvesting of beetle-infected wood, according to a study recently released by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The study forecasts abnormally low wood chip prices for the next five to ten years, offering a struggling industry a chance to invest in new technology and upgrade inefficient mills.
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