BACKGROUNDER: Mountain Pine Beetle

July 10, 2001 -

Below are four major issues concerning mountain pine beetle epidemics, particularly the current outbreak in British Columbia, Canada.

 

1. Clearcutting can cause even more beetle infestations: Clearcutting will not stop the spread of the mountain pine beetle, including into parks. In fact, more logging will actually make these forests more prone to future and more devastating beetle outbreaks.

o        In their original state, BC’s forests contain many tree species – and this is one of the ways nature fights outbreaks like the current pine beetle.

o        When forests are clearcut they are generally replanted with a single tree species, creating a monoculture. Such forests are more susceptible to outbreaks because they do not have the diversity in age and species of trees needed to fight infestations.

 

2. Beetles occur naturally in our forests, but we currently have an epidemic – instead of just the normal populations – because we have upset the balance of nature with our logging methods and because of global warming.

o      Bark beetles are native to forests in BC’s interior and play a very important role in maintaining healthy forests. Insect outbreaks are indicators of poor forest health. Forests are now dying from beetle infestations because we have upset the balance of nature in a number of ways:

o       Forest Management: Overwhelmingly, clearcutting is  the most common method of forest management  in BC. This along with replanting the same age and species of trees have removed the necessary diversity in our forests making them more susceptible to beetles and other diseases.

o       Climate Change: Normally, beetle populations are controlled by winter cold snaps that kill off the beetle larvae. Global warming has resulted in mild winders and this cold snap hasn’t occurred for several years. We can expect our lives to be further impacted if the planet continues to heat up.

o       Fire Suppression: Fire, like beetles, is a normal and regular forest activity.  Natural fires help to clean up the forests and prevent the accumulation of dead wood that, once piled up, can result in abnormally large and uncontrollable fires.  Because fire suppression is also a key part of BC forest management, our forests are giant tinderboxes, as we saw with this summer’s disasters throughout the province.

 

Recent disasterous forest fires and the interior beetle epidemic are proof that we must take a more holistic approach to forest management instead of hastily reacting to disasters with the short-term decision  to log, including logging in our parks. Long-term solutions can be found if we use more environmentally responsible logging methods and replant forests with mixed species of trees that more closely resemble their natural state.

 

3. Logging to stop the spread of the mountain pine beetle is an economic – not an ecological – solution.  

•  Clearcutting huge swaths of forest doesn’t mean beetles will be obliterated and that future outbreaks won’t occur. The current outbreak is affecting the short-term timber supply, and therefore government and industry revenue. But by turning to large-scale logging we could make future outbreaks even worse.
• Targetting non-yet infested forests to control beetles is an unproven science.
• Instead, forest managers should focus on methods that are more likely to work in reducing the area infested and the duration of the outbreak. These include thinning and partial cutting strategies, and reestablishing a mixed-species forest that will be less-prone to outbreaks and more resilient to future epidemics.

All of the salvage logging allowed to date has done nothing to prevent the spread of the beetle.

 

4.      Why no logging in parks?

 

Not only will more logging make the problem worse, but it jeapordizes the integrity of the small amount of parks we have in this province. Currently, only 12 per cent of BC’s land base is protected in parks, but two-thirds of this is rock and ice and sub-alpine, lower quality forest.  Very little old-growth forest is under protection.

 

o        Parks are created to preserve the ecological blueprint of natural ecosystems.  Over time, we need them to protect species and to teach us how natural systems work, such as how they fight disease like the current beetle outbreak. 

 

For more information, please contact Jean Kavanagh at 604-732-4228,    604-721-9332 cell, jkavanagh@davidsuzuki.org