With 13 Million Hectares Of BC Forest Already Killed By Bark Beetles, Replanting Programs Faltering

[hatrack]

VANCOUVER — The replanting of British Columbia's forests is falling behind because of economic woes affecting industry and a funding lapse in the government's reforestation program and unable to keep pace with the voracious mountain pine beetle. Fewer trees will be planted next year than at any time in the past two decades, even though the pine beetle has ravaged vast tracts of land, the head of a tree planting association says.

"This year we had expected to plant around 260 million trees based on the sowing requests. But a number of companies have since cancelled or reduced their programs, so this year we are planting 250 million trees, which is more or less the average we've been doing since the turn of the century," said John Betts, executive director of the Western Silviculture Contractors' Association. "Meanwhile, the mountain pine beetle has just been eating away into the woods. So it doesn't seem quite to line up," said Mr. Betts, whose association yesterday had ceremonial plantings around the province to celebrate the six billionth seedling to go into the ground since reforestation programs began in the 1930s.

Mr. Betts said while a lot of trees have been planted in the past 78 years, the level is now declining, even though the pine beetle infestation has killed off 13 million hectares of forest over the past decade. "For 2009, based on the sowing requests that have come through, we expect replanting will be well below 200 million trees. We think it might be as low as 180 million, so there's a substantial drop in the number of trees we are planting in this province, which is sort of inconsistent with the amount of land and forest that has been attacked by the beetle," he said.

Mr. Betts said the economic downturn in the U.S. has hit B.C.'s forest industry hard, which has led to a reduction in cuts and planting efforts. At the same time, he said, the provincial government's Forests For Tomorrow initiative - a 15-year, $86-million reforestation project launched in 2005 - has not kept pace with the need.

EDIT

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080606.wbcforests06/BNStory/National/home

[phantom power]

1. "sort of inconsistent."

Sort of.

[kestrel91316]

2. Maybe they ought to trust Mother Nature to "replant" what she deems

most appropriate, and let the natural succession take place.

[bhikkhu]

3. Background: The trees produce sap to fend off beetles

but require water to do so. Less rain causes slower growth, less sap production, and vulnerable trees. There have been a few years of bad conditions and the pine bark beetles have proliferated more each year, killing millions of acres of trees from Alaska down to California.

[kristopher]

4. Aren't warmer winters also a factor?

I understood rising temperatures were allowing northern migration.

[GliderGuider]

5. It's not exactly migration

Though their range is expanding north. The larvae are controlled primarily by cold winter temperatures. Warmer temps mean more larvae survive.

http://www.pc.gc.ca/apprendre-learn/prof/sub/mpb-ddp/page3_e.asp">The Mountain Pine Beetle

Normally, MPB populations are kept in check by natural factors such as predators, parasites, wet summers, and early, cold winters (-30ºC or lower in November) or late, cold springs. (Mountain pine beetle larvae survive cold winters by producing an insect antifreeze called glycerol.) The harsh weather conditions are the most effective in controlling the population. Forest fires also control MPB populations because they often eliminate large numbers of available host trees and, if hot enough, can kill beetles under the bark.

The limiting or prevention of forest fires on the landscape has resulted in large continuous areas of mature pine trees that are older than 80 years – the MPB’s favourite habitat. (However, the beetles are also starting to colonize younger and smaller pine trees.) This has resulted in large-scale MPB outbreaks in British Columbia and an ever-increasing risk in Alberta. Because many of British Columbia and Alberta’s lodgepole pine forests are of this age, this insect can be a serious threat to the biodiversity of forests.

Another recent contributing factor is the general warming climate trend. Since the winters are not getting cold enough to kill the beetle, it is able to survive the winter and continue to reproduce. This has also allowed it to expand its range further north and east than its historical distribution. There is also an added risk that the mountain pine beetle could adapt to jack pine trees. This could result in the mountain pine beetle eventually moving east across Canada.

[bhikkhu]

6. Yes...I read a bit more and that seems to be a big factor

This is one good article that suggests warmer winters as a cause - http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/science/beetle.html

I have read about the beetles from time to time for years, and they are well known as a menace in California and Oregon. Every drought year they cause some damage, and in successive drought years it tends to grow exponentially. I suppose it is a combination of factors here, but more warmer winters in Canada and Alaska.

And looking some more...the problem in Alaska seems to have the same cause and pattern - http://www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/pages/alaska3.html - but the greater culprit is the closely related Spruce Bark Beetle.