Mountain Pine Beetle a Hot Topic in British Columbia

The reality of our stark future in the BC Interior has started to hit home. Mayors of small BC towns are making the ravaging effects of the Mountain Pine Beetle a hot agenda topic at this week's Union of BC Municipalities conference.

As widely reported in the media over the past couple of weeks, initial BC Ministry of Forests estimates (2003 report) are holding true: currently 40 per cent of BC's pine forests are dead. Predictions of 80 per cent beetle kill by 2011 have become widely accepted. The utter lack of real action by government and forest services is beginning to alarm the -particularly small- BC towns and communities that are literally surrounded by large areas of standing dead timber.

I mentioned in earlier posts that the hazards of simply leaving the first red, then grey, dead trees standing where they died goes beyond the obvious danger of raging forest fires. Just remember what happened at Kelowna in 2003; and that was perfectly healthy, fully alive forest. It would not take a fire even approaching that magnitude to quickly rage completely out of control through large swathes of beetle kill forest.
Government officials who work in the woods are now touting the dangers of flooding. It goes beyond the fact that the lack of tree roots to absorb water -and to hold the wet soil together, particularly on the hillsides- will increase the quantity of ground water. In addition, the lack of forest canopy will have a multiplying effect; in that more snow will fall to the ground rather than evaporating in the canopy, AND the lack of needles will no longer help to regulate the rate of snow melt. (Vancouver Sun article).

FINALLY the time has come where those in a position for action have stopped saying, "All we need is a cold winter!" and have started to make real efforts in the forests. Perhaps BC is feeling shamed by the concerted efforts of Alberta (controlled burns, fire guards, pheremones . .. 7,900 hectares were sent up in smoke yesterday at Banff National Park). Federal Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn promised $250 million to those gathered at the UBCM Convention. (Source).

At this same conference, the tiny town of Bear Lake (north of Prince George) is speaking up loudly. It may only consist of 300 people, but it is so widely surrounded by beetle kill that -should the unspeakable forest fire happen- the town would be immediately lost. Oddly enough, it is BC Timber Sales that is holding up action towards safety; with only a two hour water supply in case of emergeny, the town wants to cut a two km swathe of forest around it's perimeter as a fire guard. At the moment, the stumpage fees incurred by the government agency are prohibitively costly. Just one of the ironies of a bureaucracy! I have every confidence that the issue will be resolved in the town's favour . . they want to cut before this winter, which may or may not be too soon to draft legislation into the BC's stumpage fee policy. (Source).

So the new term being thrown around now is 'fuel management'. This is in reference to cutting timber, not as a product destined for a lumber (or pulp) mill, but as a procedure to remove potential dangerous fodder to feed a massive fire. At the moment, it costs a land owner $1,000 for each tree removed. If a town, or First Nations, or other community, wants to take down portions of surrounding forest they are saddled with stumpage fees set by BC Timber Sales as well.

There is already talk of changing this policy in real terms; I'll be sure to keep an eye on developments and let everyone know! (BC Ministry of Forests and Range press release)