Tweedsmuir, the Lost Opportunity to Battle the Beetle: One Man's Opinion

Thursday, October 19, 2006 03:45 AM

The Mountain Pine Beetle Epidemic is a true testament of just how Government decisions can have long term impacts on more than the areas they are supposed to serve.

In the late 1990’s there was a call from foresters around this province that in order to protect not only the Tweedsmuir Park but the surrounding areas of the province, a comprehensive program should begin to log the infected areas. The idea was to try and stop the spread of the Mountain Pine Beetle.

The then NDP government of the day, led by Forest Minister Dave Zirnhelt, dug in saying there was no way that the park would be logged. "Nature must take it’s course" was the call of the day.

Very little money was put into research, or a serious attempt to stop the spread.

By the 90's surely we had learned that by adding another 4 billion people to this planet, there was no, “hope in hell” that nature could take its course.

Like it or not, we were faced with a warmer atmosphere, the consequence of mans propagation and unless we could reduce the population by 4 billion to get us back to the good old days , nature on this planet would be changed for ever.

The thinking of the day however remained, and when the Campbell Liberal government took over in 2001, the Tweedsmuir Park lay in ruins, ravaged by the beetle which by now had chewed through the majority of the wood. We had hatched a beetle crop of a size never before witnessed by man.

Those beetles simply moved out of the park across a line cut in the trees and into the rest of the province. The dye was cast, there was no stopping the beetles and today we are reaping what we have sown.

The problem of the Pine beetle is not like a drought in Saskatchewan or Alberta, or the balance of Canada. The trees being attacked are, for the most part 100 years old and that would be equating a drought to 100 years before the next rain fall.

So where are we now? Well the beetles are massed at the border.

We have already learned that the mountains are simply a stepping stone in their path, they have moved north of the Rockies into the Peace Country of BC and the Alberta border again is just a line not unlike the Tweedsmuir Park Boundary.

What of the parks of Banff and Jasper? They too are just a stones throw away as the beetles chew westward on a prevailing wind. Those parks will not possess the same scenic beauty when the bugs have departed.

What of the other provinces? The entire northern swath of Canada is ripe for the beetles picking, nothing prevents them from taking to the wind currents and travelling hundreds if not thousands of miles. Apart from a two week deep freeze with -35 degree killing chill, nothing stands in their way.

So are we at risk of losing the pine forest in Canada for the next 100 years because of a political decision made 19 years ago?

I’m Meisner and that is one man’s opinion.

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Posted on Thursday, October 19, 2006 03:45 AM in Views by Ben Meisner

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Comments

Posted by: kimbo on October 19 2006 10:32 AM

"Very little money was put into research, or a serious attempt to stop the spread."

Canadian Forest Service a branch or Natural Resources Canada has been doing studies on the mountain pine beetle since 1918. When you go to their website there are virtually thousnds of pages of studies that have been done by the Federal government.

The consensus of Canadian Forest Service was that logging of Tweedsmuir would not have stopped the epidemic. The beetle is in our ecology and when the conditions are right it starts to thrive. In past epidemics the colder winter climates would stop the spread but with the warming of our climate this did not happen.

http://mpb.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/research/projects/completed_e.html

So when Coleman travels around the province and tells us the NDP are to blame it is just political retoric to cover his own butt. Why didn't the current government stop the epidemic? After all it was still in Tweedsmuir Park when they took office.

Cheers

Posted by: duffer on October 19 2006 11:27 AM

Ben, you are absolutely right. If the government and especially Dave Zirnheldt hadn't given in to the special interest groups, mostly the tree huggers, those trees in the park would have been cut down. We would still have pine beetles as always, but the whole province would not be devastated. I fail to see how some people can't understand this. It is not political rhetoric, it is fact.

Posted by: owl on October 19 2006 11:33 AM

"So are we at risk of losing the pine forest in Canada for the next 100 years because of a political decision made 19 years ago?"

A conditional "yes" to the first part, "no" to the second part.

As kimbo so nicely states, and almost anyone who understands the biology of the the situation would attest, the pine beetle is a natural phenomenon and was never and will never be confined to single areas such as Tweedsmuir. There were several other "flare-ups" in the province at that time for what has become to be obvious reasons, one of which we have learned about in hind sight and that is a change in the weather patterns.

As far as the conditional yes to the first part, that depends entirely weather global warming is real and will continue over the next many decades. If so, then the types of pine planted, if pine will continue to be planted, should change since the wrong tree type planted now will likely not survive.

So, fast forward to 50 years from now to a "blog" that someone will be tuning into on their implanted chip. Based on some of the thinking surfacing here and elsewhere once more, I suppose the discussion will not likley be about the "mistake" foresters made in BC with respect to types of seedlings planted, but the mistakes Coleman under the watch of the BCLiberals.

Such a mistake will have had such an impact on the BC interior economy, which will be depleted of oil sucked dry from the Nechako Basin about 10 years previously, which could have had a rejuvenated renewable resources industry by then, that the mistake will become known as "Coleman's Folly".

The people who work to put the information on the following site work for the same government for which Coleman is a Minister. Perhaps he should have a sit down with them so that they are on the same page .......

oops ... how could people who are experts in their professional fields and the Ministers who are political animals ever be together on the same page .... stupid me .... must be too early in the morning and I am not thinking quite straight yet .....

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/conserve/pine_beetle/pine_beetle.html

;-)

Posted by: owl on October 19 2006 11:35 AM

duffer ..... how do you define fact? Give me a counter argument to the information on the government's own site I linked above.

Posted by: kimbo on October 19 2006 1:28 PM

Thanks Owl, you gave them the other nine yards. We have gonem over this subject a numbner if times so I loose interest in repeating myself,

It is however amusing how some take the information from our politicians as fact as you have pointed out. This is a fact for all our politicians and probably includes some of our media. One has to learn to read between the lines.

Cheers

Posted by: duffer on October 19 2006 1:57 PM

Owl, read the question on your link that says "Are beetle control treatments in parks effective?"

The answer is "when beetle populations are small, treatments such as fall and burn are highly effective in controlling populations."

It also says "in the case of Tweedsmuir Park, the infestation has become so large that comprehensive treatments are not cost effective".

To me this means that if the wood was cut at an earlier date the infestation would have been a lot easier to control. Zirnheldt said "there would be no cutting in the park".

Obviously other areas of infestation should have been looked after on a more timely basis as well, not just Tweedsmuir, but that was the main one at the time.

Make your own conclusions.

Posted by: owl on October 19 2006 3:14 PM

duffer .... also read the following:

"Upon discovery, the first large mountain pine beetle outbreaks were managed to the best of agencies abilities. The outbreak in Tweedsmuir Park was assessed by BC Parks and Ministry of Forests in 1994 and managed within the provisions of legislation. MANAGEMENT ACTIONS INCLUDED THE USE OF PRESECRIBED FIRE AND FALL AND BURN TREATMENTS. Other outbreaks outside of protected areas were also discovered and management activities were undertaken. DESPITE THESE MANAGEMENT TACTICS, BEETLE POPULATIONS HAVE EXPANDED BY THREE OR FOUR TIMES EACH YEAR."

That includes the areas outside Tweedsmuir ... park or no park is moot.

Prove to me that Tweedsmuir was the single radiating source from which the rest of the province was hit. A satellite photo will suffice.

There are beetles right now in Saskatchewan as there were 10 years ago and 50 years ago. I doubt they are beetles from here. If it warms up there, they will have their own infestation.

http://atomiq.org/archives/2006/09/mountain_pine_beetle_on_crosscanada_tour.html

Take a look at a map showing isotherms in Western and Central Canada. Combine that with the understanding that extreme cold weather has typically been keeping the beetle in check, and you may see one of the reasons why the beetle epidemic started in BC rather than Saskatchewan as the weather started warming up over the years.

Keeping with the theme of very little stays the same, one must also remember that when it is said that cut and burn is a way of controlling the beetles effectively if caught early, one is talking about a time when we had "normal" cold weather. That method of control may not be effective without cold winters to get the rest of the beetles which I understand to be there in lower quantities on an ongoing basis. Unless, of course, one were to burn virtually the entire mature pine stand down.

;-)

Posted by: owl on October 19 2006 3:22 PM

I think the attack actually started near the BC Montana border in 1980 along the Flathead River.

http://www.pfc.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/entomology/mpb/detection/surveys/images/flathead2_lrg.jpg

;-)

Posted by: owl on October 19 2006 3:52 PM

In case some want to learn a little more about MPB and the way forests ought to be managed to mitigate the damage they can do, here is some reading material, most of which predates the existing epidemic. It speaks about thinning and controlling the density of the pest. Whether park or remote areas which were not in or near active harvesting areas, it really does not matter. There are simnply areas which we do not have access to and we do not manage with intensive silviculture treatment.

from Oregon .... nicely presnted in a graphical way
http://fhm.fs.fed.us/posters/posters04/mountain_pinebeetle.pdf

An overview from the Pacific Forestry Centre. You can explore from here by clicking on the left panel topics
http://www.pfc.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/entomology/mpb/proofing/index_e.html

Look especially at the picture of the Chilcotin Plateau taken in 1982 (Do we blame the Social Credit for that?)http://www.pfc.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/entomology/mpb/management/direct/removing_e.html

Don't ignore the rest of the page below, but look especially at the first graph which shows the dominant age class and indicates the fact that that class is at the highest risk.
http://www.pfc.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/entomology/mpb/management/silviculture/introduction_e.html

When foresters decide what to harvest, they have to balance many things, the same as every other professional. Often you are dammed if you do and dammed if you don't. Maybe they put too much emphasis on getting at the cheap wood, close to existing roads and other infrastructure and not enough on the biological parts of the equation.

Perhaps this is another method used to subsidize our forest industry. Was it sustainable?

Posted by: Ragtop on October 19 2006 9:11 PM

The NDP and bureaucrats dropped the ball by not allowing logging and burning of the Tweedsmuir park to stop the initial outbreak of the Mountain Pine Beetle. The citizens of this province should instigate a class action law suit against the NDP and the bureaucrats who were in power at the time when the Mountain Pine Beetle infestation was recognized in the northern portion of Tweedsmuir Park. The policy at the time was " We do not log and we do not burn in parks". The resultant is a multi billion dollar loss to the citizens of this province as a result of negligence by the politicians and bureaucrats of the time.

Posted by: banananuthead on October 19 2006 9:22 PM

Owl: Haven't you figured it out yet. It's all the NDP's fault. Damn the facts; they get in the way of a good story.

Posted by: diplomat on October 20 2006 9:04 AM

The Eleventh Commandment: "Thou shalt not ever confront the NDP with factual criticism."

Posted by: QuasiMe on October 20 2006 10:03 AM

Just to bring some form of perspective to this i.e. the reality perspective, things change and we adapt.

1.) Less than 1% of our forests are lost to forest fires than just 100 years ago.

2.) Does anyone truly believe that the Pine Beetle infestation will be anything more than a foot note a 100 years from now?

3.) Pine Beetle infestation offers far more opportunity than detriment to the industry.

4.) As for global warming... guess what? Things change. Things have always changed. Things will always continue to change. In change there is opportunity. In lack of change there is nothing. Those that embrace and adapt survive. Those that do no not, simply disappear.

Posted by: kimbo on October 20 2006 10:20 AM

The last word. It has been said that we can often solve one problem but will in the process create another.ie stop burning our forests and creating a beetle problem.

And I also forgot to mention that at the present time Canadian Forest Service to this day have people in Prince George that are still looking at the beetle problem.

And Diplomat, hindsigth is 20/20.

Cheers

Posted by: owl on October 20 2006 10:45 AM

I'll bite on this one just for fun because it was so nicely stated.

"The policy at the time was " We do not log and we do not burn in parks". "

Policies of governemtn and ministries are long term and do not change with every government otherwise the province would be in a turmoil.

So, for the $64,000 question. When the government adopted that policy, which party was in power and what year was that?

Posted by: owl on October 20 2006 10:50 AM

"1.) Less than 1% of our forests are lost to forest fires than just 100 years ago."

It seems you do not understand enough about forests and natural systems to know that this is part of the problem. Natural disturbances, as such forest renewal events are called, have to occur in order for the forest to thrive. If fire does not get old stands, then pests will. Ergo the MPB.