Plotting the March of the Beetle: One Man's Opinion

By Ben Meisner

Much has been said about how the Mountain Pine beetle ,that has now ravaged our forests ,first got its major start in BC. 

The very best record of the events that led to the beetle invasion of Tweedsmuir Park, and its expansion from that area, is contained in the trial transcript of Carrier vs. the Province.

The trial spanned seven months back in 1997. At the conclusion of that trial, Carrier was awarded about $70 million dollars in damages that the company had suffered as a result of the actions of two previous governments.

Today there seems to be a propensity by government and Forest bureaucrats as well ,to conveniently omit the facts of how and where this massive outbreak first got its major start.

As of today there are still people in government in the province who had direct involvement in the process that led to the dropping of the Beetle ball. There also are a number of people in authority in the province who also have tried to change the historical facts surrounding this outbreak.

The following chronology of events is taken from the transcript of that trial and is meant to give the accurate picture of what took place over those 31 years that led to this disaster.

In 1975 the beetle outbreak was reported as taking place in the Kleena Kleene region of the province. That area is known as the Chilcotin plateau, about 300 kilometers west of Williams Lake and about 80 kilometers east of the southern boundary of Tweedsmuir Park. At first, the outbreak received very little attention because of its location and it wasn’t until 1981 that the government of BC initiated a timber sale to try and curb the spread. Forestry officials who testified at the trial said that at the time, they were saying this outbreak was a disaster in the making. There were no takers for the sale of the timber because of its remote location and long hauls.

Between the time of 1975 and 1983, 9.5 million cubic meters of wood was attacked by the beetle as the outbreak grew because of no efforts to control it.
Forestry officials from Williams Lake testified that in 1983 they expressed fears that if the beetles were not controlled in the Chilcotin they could spread to Tweedsmuir Park and spark a major outbreak.

The Government offered up a new sale of 5 million cubic meters of beetle kill over a 10 year program. The government received three bids but a bid by Carrier, which proposes to set up portable mills, makes the most sense and they get the bid.

In 1984 Carrier has thus far logged only one half of the 5 million cubic meters of bug infested wood.

A cold winter hits in 1984/1985, and again in 1985/1986. Officials of the Forestry Ministry in BC think the beetles are in check and begin to re-think Carrier’s license.
The provincial government now begins to put road blocks in front of Carriers efforts to log the wood.

In 1989 a native blockade in the area takes place preventing Carrier from continuing operations. In a letter, a forestry executive with the provincial government writes to say,"We will ram it down Carriers throat."  He is referring to a plan to have the native bands in the region harvest the wood.

On October 18th, 1990 Minister of Forests in the Socred Government and at present Liberal Minister of Employment and Income Assistance, Claude Richmond, meets with the natives and agrees to their wishes that they are the ones who should do the logging. The Socred government of the day pulls the license for Carrier to log beetle infested wood.

In 1991 the Native bands in the region propose a new way of logging the beetle infested wood but their plans do not get off the ground.

In the spring of 1991 NDP Premier Mike Harcourt, Forest Minister Dave Zirnhelt, Deputy Premier Dan Miller and the native bands blockading the area, meet at 100 Mile airport. Harcourt says no wood will be logged without native participation.

In June of 1992 Carriers license to cut wood in the region is suspended.

In October 1993 the appeal board hears an appeal that the says the provincial NDP government could not cancel Carriers License. Carrier wins the appeal but the license expires in December of 1993.

In 1997 Carrier takes the Provincial government to court, after a hearing that lasts over seven months the trial ends. Carrier wins the action, and the government agrees to pay Carrier a settlement  worth about $70 million dollars.

The beetles have gone largely unchecked for 23 years; they now cover the entire Tweedsmuir Park and are now making their way in every direction out of the park. BC has a full blown catastrophe on its hands.

In 2002 the Beetle kill is listed as the worst disaster of its kind in the history of the province.

The 2006 infestation threatens not only the 10.2 million hectares of lodgepole pine in BC, but also the forest of Alberta and the entire Jack Pine stands of Canada.
The outbreak now covers parts of Idaho, Montana, Washington state , the Cypress hills of Alberta and Saskatchewan,Waterton lakes Park , and the Wilmore Wilderness Park in Alberta.

We have learned the beetles are very adaptable, able to carry their eggs over winter, fly with the wind currents at altitudes of up to 23,000 feet, and adapt to other species of wood. The fear is the Boreal forest of Canada, which covers about 77% of our land mass and accounts for one third of the world’s oxygen resource, could be at risk.

In the past, the beetles have preferred to lay their eggs in Lodgepole pine between 80 and 100 years old. Because of their sheer numbers they now are attacking trees as young as 16 years old.

This year, the Canadian Forest Service produced a report on the Mountain Pine Beetle it starts off by saying  the outbreak began in the 1990’s in Tweedsmuir Park and then spread outside of the park. That is not an accurate account of what took place.

Two governments in succession dropped the ball; many of those same players are still in government dealing with the beetle problem.

At the time, the $190 million awarded to Carrier  seemed unreal.  That amount is now just a drop in the bucket compared to what will be lost in Canada’s forest industry through sheer neglect and bad management.

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

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