Pine beetle Plague munches through Alberta's forests*

Updated Sat. Jul. 21 2007 10:16 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

The mountain pine beetle is attacking trees in Western Canada, and
without proper measures, experts warn it could potentially chew through
the country's vast boreal forest.

Currently, about 3 million trees in Alberta are infected. Up until last
year, there were only 20,000 trees affected by the beetle in the province.

"There were so many beetles in B.C. that when they emerged, they just
got into the wind current and it actually blew over the mountains and
rained down over Alberta," said Erica Lee, a pine beetle prevention
specialist in Alberta.

"That was a holy cow," she told CTV News Edmonton reporter Deborah
Shiry. "We didn't anticipate that at all. ... That hadn't ever happened
before."

Before coming to Alberta, the pine beetles ravaged through 9 million
hectares of B.C. pine forest.

The Chief Forester of B.C. is expected to release a report later this
summer on the impact infested trees have on the province's timber
supply, The Globe and Mail reported.

Experts have predicted about 80 per cent of the province's mature pine
trees will be killed off by 2013. So far, the amount of trees infested
with the pine beetle has affected an area about three times the size of
Vancouver Island.

Beetles wreak havoc in Alberta

But now the beetles have descended in Alberta, ready to ravage once
again. About 2.5 of Alberta's three million infested trees are located
near Grande Prairie.

Though Alberta plans to spend $55 million this year, Ottawa has yet to
pledge any money. With an abundance of pine trees in Canada, the problem
is expected to escalate.

"Nothing is stopping it any longer from carrying on," said Lee. "There
are no geographic barriers as we're east of the mountains now and (with
milder winter weather not killing the bugs off) we don't have any
temperature barriers."

Alberta has started to track the beetles' progress through monitoring
station. They'll know how successful they were this fall when they
review the data.

So far, Alberta's most efficient weapon against the pine beetle has been
the use of pheromones. Packets of them repel beetles or entice them over
to a specific area by mimicking the bugs' natural scent.

They have been an effective source in alleviating the problem as
pheromones can kill up to thousands of beetles over the course of a
season. It only takes ten beetles to kill a tree.

With areas suffering from heavier infestation, mulching machines are
another solution.

It's a critical time of the year to address the problem as beetles
prepare for their summer flights in search of new trees to nest and
breed in and of course, munch on. Lee said the beetles will probably
start heading east in the next couple of weeks.

"We're not expecting to get it under control," she said. "It's going to
take time, but we will work aggressively."

With a report from CTV Edmonton's Deborah Shiry