Recent news reports that the mountain pine beetle infestation has doubled in Alberta, from 1.5 million trees to 3.0 million trees, in just the past year.
The increase is blamed on strong winds last summer that helped carry beetles from BC into Alberta. Also, warmer winters are no longer able to kill off enough of the beetle population.
At that rate, you have to question what the Alberta government can do to mitigate the problem. How fast can they plan to build roads, harvest areas, and utilize the wood? Do they have the resources to deal with huge wildfires that will likely occur in the dead, dry forests that can't be harvested? Human resources are already tight in Alberta due to the oil boom, so where will the forestry workers come from?
What's more alarming is that infested trees have been found near Slave Lake, which is close to the boreal forest. If the beetle is able to advance farther north and east, they could spread all the way to Newfoundland and Labrador.
Forestry is the third lasgest industry in Alberta, behind oil and agriculture, and the continued spread of mountain pine beetle will have massive impacts on forest companies and communities that depend on the forest resource.
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