CANADA: Huge tracks of Western Canadian pine forests are dying in a losing battle against climate change and a tiny beetle
Record ID:
741838
CANADA: Huge tracks of Western Canadian pine forests are dying in a losing battle against climate change and a tiny beetle
- Title: CANADA: Huge tracks of Western Canadian pine forests are dying in a losing battle against climate change and a tiny beetle
- Date: 2nd October 2008
- Summary: (AM) PRINCE GEORGE, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA (RECENT) (REUTERS) HELICOPTER AERIAL VIEW OF A VAST FOREST OF DEAD PINE TREES GROUND LEVEL VIEW OF A DEAD PINE WITH DRIED PINE NEEDLES AND BRITTLE BARK (AM) BROOKMERE, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA (RECENT) (REUTERS) DR. ALLAN CARROLL, AN ENTOMOLOGIST WITH THE CANADIAN FOREIGN SERVICE, WALKING THROUGH A CLEARING IN A FOREST OF DEAD TREES AND LOOKING FOR TREES UNDER ACTIVE PINE BEETLE INFESTATION DR. ALLAN CARROLL, AN ENTOMOLOGIST WITH THE CANADIAN FOREIGN SERVICE, EXAMINING A TREE AND CHOPPING OFF SMALL BRANCHES WITH A KNIFE DR. ALLAN CARROLL, AN ENTOMOLOGIST WITH THE CANADIAN FOREIGN SERVICE, PEELING BARK FROM A DYING TREE AND REVEALING PINE BEETLES IN THE FLESH OF THE EXPOSED TREE (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. ALLAN CARROLL, AN ENTOMOLOGIST WITH THE CANADIAN FOREIGN SERVICE, SAYING: "There she is, right there. And you can see that she is no bigger than a grain of rice. And this is what really fascinates me about this whole system, is that -- this tiny animal here is responsible for changing the whole landscape of interior British Columbia, roughly 15 million hectares. You know, about twice the size of Austria. This insect has killed the trees over that vast, vast area and will result in wholescale ecosystem changes. That tiny insect the size of a grain of rice! It is just amazing." CLOSEUP OF MOUNTAIN PINE BEETLE ON THE FLESH OF EXPOSED TREE
- Embargoed: 17th October 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Canada
- Country: Canada
- Topics: Environment / Natural World
- Reuters ID: LVA7ELF1X0MTIIG514OJFFWSCMH2
- Story Text: As far as the eye can see, the verdant pine forests of central British Columbia have turned to dismal shades of gray, the effects of a lost ecological battle against a tiny insect which has flourished due to a combination of forest fire management policies and the warming climate.
The pine forest of central British Columbia is the lifeblood of the Canadian lumber and forest products industry, the source of one of Canada's leading exports. More than 15 million hectares of its mature pine forest -- an area twice the size of Austria -- has succumbed to the mountain pine beetle, an insect no larger than a grain of rice.
For years, the mountain pine beetle and the pine trees of western Canada have co-existed in a balanced ecosystem. Under normal circumstances, in the warm months the beetles lay their larvae just below the bark of the mature pine trees. The larvae hatch and the young beetles feast on the thin layer of tissue which carries nutrients from the roots to the upper branches.
Many of these mature trees die, but as many drop their seedlings for new growth to sprout.
In the cold months, the beetles die and the cycle resumes the next spring.
But in recent years, the winter temperatures in British Columbia have been exceptionally warm -- some say that it is another example of global climate change -- and so the beetles continue to reproduce the year round and their offspring continue to attack the mature trees.
The infestation has become so rampant that the beetles, having consumed nearly all the stands of mature pine, have turned their pincers upon young, immature trees.
"This insect has killed the trees over that vast, vast area and will result in wholescale ecosystem changes. That tiny insect the size of a grain of rice! It is just amazing," said Dr. Allen Carroll, an entomologist with the Canadian Forest Service and the leading expert on the infestation.
It is a battle of offense versus defense. On the attack, the mountain pine beetles have enlisted an ally, a certain symbiotic species of fungus, to overrun the trees. And the pine trees, in response, exude a sap to patch over those areas of wounded tree tissue under attack. But exuding all that sap against the relentless attack of the beetles exhausts the strength of the tree and the pine dies within two years. Its needles turn a shade of dark red in the first year and then a lifeless gray in the second.
It is estimated that nearly 80 percent of Canadian pine will be gone within a few years.
There are millions of hectares of pine forest to be harvested -- and harvested in a hurry. Sales, however, are close to flattened. Forestry executives say they have fewer than three years to clear a stand of dead or dying pine before its wood dries out and become all but useless for commercial sale.
The marketing staff of the forest companies are touting the supposedly desirable aesthetics of the unusual blue stain caused by the symbiotic fungus in hope that some sales may be recovered.
"The effect that has had on the mill is it has caused a number of productivity issues in the mill. The wood is drying out. It is breaking up.
It is causing flow problems. It also has had quite an impact on the grade out-turn, the value that we get out of the wood," said Ross Johnson, an executive with West Fraser Mills, one of Canada's larger forest products companies.
The Canadian forest industry has a policy of planting new trees, but it takes approximately 60 to 70 years for a pine tree to mature to the height preferred by the forest industry. Once the dead trees are cleared, the industry will face a significant downturn because of a lack of harvestable trees.
Government officials and industry executives generally agreed that the practice of suppressing forest fires and allowing mature trees to flourish, thereby permitting an abundance of the mountain pine beetles' favorite meal kick-started the ecological imbalance. Combining that factor that with the trend of warmer winters, British Columbia's forests have decades before they thrive once again. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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