Pine Beetle Infestation Exploding Throughout British Columbia

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Relentless beetles cut path of destruction across B.C. forests
Bug epidemic more damaging than forest fires this year
 
Gordon Hamilton
Vancouver Sun

"New data on the mountain pine beetle show they are on the march throughout the entire province of British Columbia, with infestations aggressively expanding everywhere pine trees grow.

Preliminary results of data gathered this summer show it is no longer just northern forests where beetle infestations are killing trees in unprecedented numbers. They have eaten their way down to Whistler, are spreading aggressively in Manning Park, and are attacking trees in the southern Okanagan and Kootenays.

This year alone, the beetle has infested more forest than was burned during the summer's devastating fires. The ministry of forests estimates the epidemic has grown by 40 per cent since last year and is now threatening 160 million cubic metres of timber, 2.5 times more than the entire B.C. forest industry consumes in a year.

"The situation looks unique based on anything I have seen in the last 30 years," B.C. chief Forester Larry Pedersen said Thursday. "It is growing simultaneously in areas of the province that are geographically distinct and separate from one another. "We are seeing activity in all forests of the province that have pine in them."

Vancouver Sun

[gate of the sun]

1. I wonder if this is the same beetle

that we call the bark beetle that is destroying the pinon forest in Santa Fe.....Also on my trip from here to California when I was in the Sierra's I saw a bunch of pines dying there as well. Boy this has really swept the west..... Iwonder though they say here it is caused by drought but in Truckee there was no drought. I hope they can do something about this the amount of dead trees here is really bad. I wonder if other places are experiencing this as well? any comments? are pines dying where you live?

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2. Probably pine bark beetles where you are

The bugs in question vary from area to area. In Alaska, where a region of spruce twice the size of Yellowstone has been destroyed in the last 7-8 years, the culprit has been the spruce bark beetle. In BC, the Sierra and high-elevation desert southwest, it's been mostly the pine beetle.

However, some of the species don't eat exclusively one species or family of trees. Let me do a little googling, and I'll post some more information when I can.