Discover - Forests: Serious Issues, Hopeful Solutions

     

What actions can be taken to improve and/or solve forest issues?

The mountain pine beetle (MPB) is a naturally occuring insect. It is only about 5 mm long, but it is one of the most destructive forces facing Alberta and North American forests.  How could such a little bug cause so much damage?

MPBs are a menace to forests because they chew into the bark of trees where they eat the soft wood under the bark. That's where they lay their eggs, and when the eggs hatch, the larvae eat the tree too. To make matters worse, MPBs carry a fungus that infects the tree and does even more damage by blocking the tubes for water and nutrient transport. When MPBs attack a tree, they can kill it in a single season. The insects hatched on one tree can then kill seven trees. Since 1990, MPBs have killed 50% of the lodgepole pine in BC. The MPB has begun to attack Alberta's Jack Pine. If the beetles move to the boreal forest, much of the world's forests could be destroyed.

MPBs never used to be much of an issue in Alberta because we had young forests. Years without forest management (harvesting infected trees, spraying healthy trees with pesticides, or having small controlled fires) have created large tracts of older pine forest.  Mature trees provide a highway for beetles.

Cold winters always killed MPBs that might be carried into the province by the wind. But, in recent years, our winters have been warmer—so that it is no longer cold enough to kill MBPs. Lack of good forest management and warmer winters are causing MPBs to spread in large numbers, killing large areas of forest.

  Video

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Watch this video: The links between mountain pine beetle, trees, and climate

Mountain Pine Beetle and Forest Carbon in BC

The MBP is only one challenging issue facing trees and forests.  What action can be taken to save forests from the MBP and other issues that are threatening them?