they already have evolved, skywalker

The beetles around my part of the province have been eating and killing spruce, ponderosa pine and even some douglas fir. They are so thick and hungry that they will try anything. It doesn't take too many having the bacteria in their gut to mutate for a newer more adapted strain to develop and proliferate. This has been seen by the increase of twice a-year hatchings verses the once a-year variety. This newer, sexier beetle shows a much greater geometric birth-rate than their ancestors had. In just two years (all else being equal), one now has eight times the "bugs" they would have had previously at the end of that period.

Pray that it does not develop a huge appetite for hemlock, fir and spruce. If that happens, the forest industry will be gone as major employer within a generation.

So Why then?

Are we liquidating the pine forests before we have figured out a way to control the beetle?

I guess easy solutions that don't work are always good when they make lots of money for the supporters of the government.

Shock and Awe

When we in the Northwest first saw the trees begin to die there was an element of skepticism in our alarm. Then when whole mountainsides began to redden, we realized something really serious was occurring. We were a bit shocked, and in awe that ecosystems that had been intact for millennia were suddenly changing, and hardly for the better. Obvious death has a way of damping one's enthusiasm.

Naomi Klein's new book, The Shock Doctrine, rests on the premise that shocking situations are the norm for quick and dirty shifts in the way we do things. The speed is at least somewhat tempered by the inertia of the forest industry and the rate at which the die-off occurs. How dirty? That remains to be seen.

New Opportunities All Right!

Like, having the plankton in the oceans die off would be a great opportunity for someone to capitalize on the oxygen-producing market..............or like the Exxon Valdez present a great opportunity for the cleanup business.......or having the leaky condos present a great opportunity for the remediation business........

And to think that most people who hear the spin the likes of Gary Lunn put on this disaster, will believe him!

Time to grow hemp?

Considering the strong growth properites of hemp, is ability to purify the air, and the quality of products it can make, it would make sense. Hemp --according to Wikipedia-- is an acceptable plant to grow in Canada.

WHY???

Certainly, as Forests Minister Coleman is reported to have said, there is a market for bioenergy. Well, talk of that's been around for quite a while, and mills were reported to have been set up for producing wood pellets.

So why are massive piles of wasted logs still being burned?

What about concrete?

Just wondering is this is for real?

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/09/26/bc-pinebeetlecement.html

University of Northern BC researcher finds another use for beetle-kill wood:

But now that the research is complete, Pasca sees all kinds of additional applications, from countertops to flooring and tiles.

"It's a beautiful product that combines all the structural advantages of concrete with the esthetic quality of wood," said Pasca, who used the research to write his master's thesis.

His research involved the use of three sizes of wood chips and three combinations of wood-to-cement ratios. The mixtures were created in the lab, poured into mould and left to cure.

"What emerged were boards that looked like a cross between plywood and concrete. You can drive a nail into them without pre-drilling. You can cut them with regular working tools. They're water-resistant and stronger than many similar products on the market," Pasca said.

Skywalker asks why

Are we liquidating the pine forests before we have figured out a way to control the beetle?

Actually its the pine beetle thats liquidating the forests. Cutting down the dead trees IS the only way, at present, to control the beetle with out Mom Natures help. But according to Skywalker all those loggers shouldn't be allowed to make a living as they are guilty of being "supporters of the Government"

Not so Happy!

I don't know where you get such nonsense as I never said loggers should not make a living. If logging all the pine just limits the beetles food supply so they go to the next stand then maybe logging is not the solution that all the profit seekers say it is. So you can tell me how logging controls the beetle. I accept it controls the waste of wood fiber in the dying trees but, how many beetles do you kill by logging the doomed tree? Maybe by logging and hauling to the mill you give them a free ride to another stand of pine. Loggers have been cutting pine infested trees for what, 20 years or more. We now have a plague of beetles. Does this not justify asking some questions? Or do the questions have to stop just because the profits are high and you support the government. Focus on the issue Happy, the ad hominum attacks don't become a intelligent person.

Pine beetle opportunities

As a forest tech who has participated in many pine beetle probes, cutblock layouts, fall and burn treatments and other such attempts to "control" the bug, I see no sense in our current direction. Nothing we have done including logging has been at all effective. In fact pine beetle probes are government subsidized operations designed to supply wood fibre to the handfull of forest companies in BC at salvage stumpage rates of $0.25 per cubic metre in some cases without the obligation to replant. I am all for salvaging dead timber, in fact no green trees should be allowed to be cut. Most of the machinery that is out in the bush is totally unsuited to selective harvesting and salvage. Its clearcuts or nothing. If the use of forwarders or other innovative technology was mandated to allow true harvest selection we could use logging as a silvicultural treatment to improve the value of remaining stands, reduce fire risks and practice restoration forestry. A locally based value added wood processing industry should be encouraged to use salvage timber in ways other than just cutting framing construction lumber. There has been talk of wood pellet mills but they cost at least two millon dollars to build and no one except big corporations is ready to step up to the plate. If I could purchase wood pellets for $100 a ton I would purchase a pellet stove tommorrow and cut off my natural gas line. Wood pellets would also make an excellent export product. Personally I dont think the provincial liberals have the guts to do anything to change our current direction.

interesting rangergord

Thanks.
As a forestry professional, is it your opinion that there is NO way to stop the advance of the beetles?

I understand Alberta is trying to extirpate the initially infected trees in the fall and create a kind of cordon sanitaire along the border with BC.

Have you heard whether or not they are having any success?

You're right Skywalker

I did a poor job of stating what I was getting at. Logging doesn't help control the beetle, we all know that. What I meant was, the trees are infected and going to die. The only sensible thing to do WHILE we deliberate / research a solution is to cut them down now. You know what a lightning srike can do in a forest of bone dry pine. Clearing the deadwood will help regenerate the forest faster so EVERBODY benefits, not just logging companies, eg. tourism for an example.
As for as hominum attacks, well I don't see you ever missing an oportunity to blame Gordo for any/everthing that you don't agree with. As you said, the problems been around 20 years. What was done to tackle this issue during the 90's ?

Wood pellets ?

I'm asking cause I don't know. How clean burning are they? I live in a semi rural area and even here the local government is musing about banning new wood burning fireplaces, not the same as pellet stoves I know. Aren't they kind of smoky ? Because thats the issue. Natural gas is fairly non polluting

Sterilize the little suckers!

Read an interesting article the other day about an eel infestation in one of the Great Lakes. The Americans have a program where they are gathering up large amounts of the critters and, I think, putting them through a chemical process that renders them infertile and then releasing them back into the lake. They mate but can't reproduce and therefore the population is declining nicely. Too bad that technology can't be applied here, maybe one day...

bugs have already made inroads

GWEST queries:

I hope that what they are doing works to slow down the progression. They have been getting a number of pine beetles anyhow. It seems billions of BC bugs got swept up in some high winds and were eventually deposited over the Rockies and into Alberta forests. This expedited the beetle's eastward progress considerably. As of March, the Alberta gov't had spent 27 million on the problem.

http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/govrel/news.cfm?story=58437

clearcutting all not the answer

What I meant was, the trees are infected and going to die. The only sensible thing to do WHILE we deliberate / research a solution is to cut them down now. You know what a lightning srike can do in a forest of bone dry pine. Clearing the deadwood will help regenerate the forest faster so EVERBODY benefits, not just logging companies, eg. tourism for an example.

When the trees are logged, it generally either speeds erosion or creates erosion where there may have been little or none before. Also, the dead trees often act to provide a bit of shelter to "mother" some younger trees that may not do as well with constant direct sunlight - with more pollution, global warming and more ultraviolet, this could be more important now than ever before.

correction to my last post

Happy said:

I was quoting Happy
when I posted the following:When the trees are logged, it generally either speeds erosion or creates erosion where there may have been little or none before. Also, the dead trees often act to provide a bit of shelter to "mother" some younger trees that may not do as well with constant direct sunlight - with more pollution, global warming and more ultraviolet, this could be more important now than ever before.

pine beetle opportunities

It is a little early to tell what will happen in Alberta but if the barrier is successfull it will be a big surprise to everyone. Besides global warming stoking the populations, reliance on fire suppression rather than restoration forestry makes the problem worse year after year. Natural cycles in the coniferous interior forest end in catacalysmic fires. In order to prevent them we must do far more than stand by with waterbombers. We have to practice more intensive silvicultural treatments that can really only hope to be subsidized by the wood they recover in the process. We should utilize the dead wood but how we extract it from the still living forest matters. Right now despite all the detailed work forest techs do, there is really only one treatment on the list. CLEARCUT. Take the forests away from the forest companies. Let them mill and process. Put more stewards out in the forests to manage them to a much higher standard. There is no reason why we cannot harvest trees and leave the forest looking better than when we found it. For every tree that is cut down about a third of it (the top and sometimes the butt) is wasted by burning it under conditions that result in some of the worst air pollution in the province. Wood pellets are a clean burning fuel because the fuel is dry and burned with forced air reducing combustion byproducts to a low level. Not quite as clean as natural gas but many times cleaner than the cleanest advanced combustion EPA certified wood stoves.
Most freestanding EPA certified stoves are availiable as fireplace inserts. These woodstoves rely on dry firewood and proper operation to reduce emmissions whereas the operation of a pellet stove is automatic and well suited to busy lifestyles.

Thanks rangergord and S.I.G.

So, Alberta is unlikely to have its pine forests spared...and we're still waiting for some real and effective forest management practices instead of the high-grading that got us to this pass in the first place.

Correct?

you got it!

Real and effective forest management will only happen if we demand changes to the tenure system. The forest companies lobbied the BC liberals to allow them to log timber and ship it anywhere in the province rather than be required to maintain local processing facilities. They have completely jetisoned any responsibility to provide employment to British Columbians in return for cheap timber supplies. The original deal has been broken. The easy access to timber should be taken away. Many other forestry experts far more qualified than I have said the same things.

thanks again rangergord

Just noticed this in yesterday's G&M:
PRINT EDITION
Alberta turning tide on pine beetles

The Canadian Press

Saturday, September 29, 2007 – Page A8

EDMONTON -- Alberta may finally be holding the line against the forest-munching ravages of the mountain pine beetle.

Results of a new beetle population survey suggest that between 200,000 and 300,000 additional trees were hit by the bugs in the province this year, Ted Morton, Alberta's Minister of Sustainable Resource Development, said yesterday. That is a considerable improvement over 2006, when the number of infected trees shot from 19,000 to three million.

The hope is that the new figures mean the pine beetle's relentless eastward march may have slowed.

There is evidence that the number of bugs in northwestern Alberta is holding steady but the infestation is spreading in the south.

(The headline - given the rest of the clip - seems like wishful thinking)