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VICTORIA
– British Columbia and Alberta have surveyed and mapped
4.1 million hectares of forests and removed more than 45,000 infested trees
this winter in a joint effort to prevent the mountain pine beetle from
spreading across the B.C.-Alberta border.
“This work is part of a $17-million program aimed at limiting the
beetle’s spread – a key priority in our Mountain Pine Beetle Action Plan,” said
B.C. Forests and Range Minister Rich Coleman. “We destroyed tens of thousands
of infested trees in the border zone before the beetles could fly east later
this spring or summer.”
About 8.7 million hectares of B.C. forest –
an area larger than New Brunswick – were infested by the pine beetle last year.
By the time the infestation has run its course, it’s expected to kill as much
as 80 per cent of the lodgepole pine in B.C. Although the beetle has primarily
attacked B.C.’s lodgepole pine, scientists believe that Alberta’s jack pine
forests could also be at risk.
“The mountain
pine beetle poses the same kind of threat to forests in Alberta as it does to
forests in British Columbia,” said Alberta Sustainable Resource Development
Minister David Coutts. “Along the eastern slopes, there are more than two
million hectares of pine forests at risk, worth an estimated $23 billion. We’re
continuing to work together and share costs with our western neighbour to help
prevent damage to susceptible forests on both sides of the Rockies.”
Last year, British Columbia and Alberta
signed a five-year memorandum of understanding for an aggressive spread control
program in the Rocky Mountain, Columbia, Headwaters and Peace forest districts
along the B.C.-Alberta border.
The work involves surveying forests from
both the air and the ground to identify infested trees. Trees under attack by
the beetle are cut down and burned.
British Columbia is contributing $13.7
million to the spread control program while Alberta is investing $3.7 million.
Of that amount, $1.7 million comes from the Alberta forest industry.
For
more information about the spread control program in the Peace, Rocky Mountain,
Headwaters, and Columbia forest districts, visit www.gov.bc.ca/pinebeetle online.
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contact: |
Communications Director Ministry of Forests and Range 250 387-8486 |
Communications Sustainable Resource Development 780 427-8636 780 238-0422 |
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For more information on government services or to subscribe to the Province’s news feeds using RSS, visit the Province’s website at www.gov.bc.ca. |
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