Pine Beetle Infestation

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I added this to my photos yesterday and said even though the photo of the reflection is pretty, the trees that are reddish brown are, in fact, dying. The cause being the pine beetle. We saw so much of it during our tour of the Canadian Rockies and heard about its devasting effect on the forests of British Columbia. I copied and pasted this info from the internet as I thought you might be interested.

“The mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae, is a small insect, less than a centimetre long, which lives most of its life under the bark of pine trees, including lodgepole, ponderosa and western white pine.

Normally these insects play an important role in the life of a forest. They attack old or weakened trees, speeding the development of a younger forest. However, unusual hot, dry summers and mild winters in central British Columbia during the last few years, along with forests filled with mature lodgepole pine, have lead to an epidemic. To date, beetles have destroyed millions of lodgepole pine in BC – the province’s most commercially harvested tree. "

I just hope the program they now have in place will help eradicate this pest.

Sandra x

• 10 Mar, 2010
• 5 likes

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