B.C. TAKING ACTION ON PINE BEETLE

The Mountain Pine Beetle Action Plan provides a framework for government in dealing with the impacts of the infestation, and ensuring sustainability for forests, communities, and the provincial economy. The action plan, first introduced in 2001, is updated regularly. To date, the Province has made significant progress towards achieving each of the plan’s seven objectives.

Objective 1 – Economic Sustainability for Communities

· The Northern Development Initiative Trust has invested in 47 projects in central and northern communities, aimed at pursuing new opportunities for stimulating economic growth and job creation. Projects range from downtown revitalization to ski hill development.

· Government signed agreements this year with the McLeod Lake Indian Band, Kamloops Indian Band, Little Shuswap Indian Band, Lhoosk’uz Dene (Kluskus) Nation, and Red Bluff Band to create new forestry opportunities for First Nations in helping to manage the beetle infestation.

· The Province has accelerated development of programs and strategies to encourage industrial activity in sectors including exploration for oil and gas, minerals, and wood-to-energy resources.

Objective 2 – Worker and Public Safety

· Safety-related improvements are being made to forest service roads impacted by increased logging truck traffic hauling beetle wood. This year, 160 km of forest service roads, including three bridges, are receiving upgrades.

· The Ministry of Transportation has upgraded 660 km of roads to help support increased harvesting of beetle wood, and to mitigate and repair damage to highway infrastructure resulting from increased logging truck traffic.

· Fuel management treatments were conducted on 2,300 hectares this year to help protect communities adjacent to beetle-affected forests from the threat of wildfire.

· Tree removal and fuel reduction programs have been conducted in eight beetle-impacted provincial parks – including Mount Robson, Silver Star, Manning and Lac le Jeune.

Objective 3 – Recovering Value

· The Ministry of Forests and Range completed five timber supply analyses in 2005-06, resulting in temporary increases in the allowable annual cut of 2.4 million cubic metres per year. The increased cut enables more harvesting aimed at recovering the maximum value from beetle-affected timber.

· Investments in research and development have led to advances in the ability to remove the blue stain in beetle wood, the creation of a new thick cross-laminated panel product now gaining interest in European construction markets, and the ability to detect cracking in pine logs for improved and safer sawing.

· Four major forest licences were awarded to TallOil Canada, which plans to use beetle wood to manufacture industrial pellets for use as biofuels in European energy markets. The licences support a potential private sector investment of up to $110 million and the creation of up to 640 jobs.

Objective 4 – Conserve Long-Term Forest Values

· B.C.’s Chief Forester issued a report providing guidance to professional foresters on maintaining biodiversity values in large-scale harvesting operations for mountain pine beetle. On larger cutblocks, it is necessary to increase the size of unharvested areas to support wildlife habitat and other non-timber values.

· The Future Forest Ecosystem initiative, launched by the Chief Forester, is exploring opportunities to adjust forestry legislation, policy and practices in response to rapidly changing forest conditions, including those brought about by the mountain pine beetle epidemic.

Objective 5 – Limit Further Damage

· 4.1 million hectares were surveyed and mapped to monitor infestation levels and to plan fall-and-burn treatments for controlling beetle populations along the B.C.-Alberta border.

· 68,000 infested trees were felled and burned in 2005-06 as part of spread control activities in the interprovincial border zone.

· The Emergency Bark Beetle Management Area was updated to enable aggressive action against the beetle in expanded outbreak areas on the edges of the infestation.

Objective 6 – Restoring Forest Resources

· Wildlife habitat impacted by beetle-related harvesting activity in the BX Creek watershed in the Okanagan-Shuswap Forest District has been re-established. Five landing sites and about 1.25 km of road were rehabilitated as part of the ecosystem restoration project.

· Aerial surveys and ground surveys have been conducted on thousands of hectares in heavily attacked areas in the Central Interior. This data is being used in planning strategic reforestation efforts under Forests for Tomorrow.

· More than 250 million seeds being sown in 2006 for both private and government reforestation efforts across the province.

· Nearly 7,400 hectares were fertilized in 2005-06 to enhance growth of other commercial tree species like Douglas Fir and spruce, to bring them to a harvestable size sooner.

Objective 7 – Co-ordinated Planning and Mitigation Measures

· Eleven ministries and provincial agencies are now working on projects directly related to addressing the mountain pine beetle epidemic.

· An Assistant Deputy Minister was appointed to lead a Mountain Pine Beetle Emergency Response Team for mitigating the beetle’s long-term impacts.

· A First Nations’ Mountain Pine Beetle Initiative has been established to help plan strategic responses for sustaining First Nations’ cultures being disrupted by the beetle infestation.

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Media contact:	Jennifer McLarty Public Affairs Officer Ministry of Forests and Range 250 387-4592

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