Pine Beetle Destruction In BC Twice The Amount Of Timber Harvested

[hatrack]

"The long hot summer of 2003 provided near-perfect conditions for British Columbia's most devastating insect pest, the mountain pine beetle. The beetle attacked 66 million cubic metres of timber this year -- the equivalent of two million truckloads -- according to to the Council of Forest Industries, which released new statistics this week.

This year's spread of the pest brings the total timber volume infested to 173.5 million cubic metres of timber, more than twice as much timber harvested in the province over a one-year period. It's more timber than expected, said Bob Clark, co-ordinator of the mountain pine beetle task force, a joint industry-government initiative.

'The expected rate, if you extrapolated from the last three years, would have been about 160 million, but I am not at all surprised by what has happened,' Clark said Tuesday.

He said the hot weather meant the beetles all hatched at about the same time, concentrating their flights into mass-attacks. At the same time, the trees, which rely on sap to drive the beetles out of the bark, were weakened by drought."

EDIT

Vancouver Sun