Now that is interesting, isn't it? Here we are, complaining about the cold weather as early as mid November, and we are told it is too little and too late. It needs to be colder and it needs to be earlier.

So, did we all forget what winters used to be like which kept the MPB in check? Maybe we are starting to take on lower mainland characteristics by complaining about "normal" weather, believing it is abnormal, when actually it isn't?

Then again, maybe the beetle kill off theory as it is presented to us is a bit oversimplified.

Too little too late.
I don't know, I have lived in P.G. for 40+ years and don't remember -20 plus temps at the beginning of Nov. Every time we start to get some hope that the weather might finally take care of those pesky bugs, we hear too little too late. Lets have some honesty and just tell us that we have to let the beatles run their course.

According to Env. Canada, the coldest November day on record is -36 in 1985. I'm not sure we've ever experienced the weather he's talking about in November...not for two weeks anyway. So why didn't the beetles overtake us before? I'm guessing that the minus 30's that we can experience in December and January do the trick. But then again...I haven't spent my life examining bugs like he has. Perhaps there is another answer.

I think we are forgetting that the beetles have moved south as well as jumped the rockies to the northeast. So, if those cold temps are required, good luck to the south .... however, the northeast has been colder than here for some time, so the cold may actually have an effect there.

This present Pine Beetle infestation according to the Government website can be traced back to 1993.

Carrier Lumber I beleive was logging Pine Beetle infested lumber in the Williams Lake area over 10 years ago. (Portable Sawmills).

A quick cold snap in the early fall of -25 degrees for a sustained period can kill off the beetles. (Is this early fall?)

This infestation is totally out of control and has been for sometime. There is not a strategy in place as far as I know that can do anything about it.

You can log off as much beetle kill as possible, however you have to have a sale for the lumber, and at this time lumber prices are down. In addition you have to be able to get rid of the Woodchips, and Sawdust, and the Pulp Mills can only handle so much. Most out of town mills, Bear Lake, Isle Pierre, Dunkley, Clear Lake, are burning their waste wood (Beehive Burners) because there is no market for it.

This infestation will run its course and we will have to deal with whatever is left. A large part of the the dead trees will be blown down, and a lot more will burn in forest fires, and some will be logged off. The rest will rot in the bush.

**And the farmer said to be bo-weevil, why did you pick my farm?** and the bo-weevil said to the farmer, **we didnt mean you no harm** we're just looking for a home, gotta have a home, a real fine home.

**And the logger said to the Pine Beetle, why did you pick my tree?** and the Pine Beetle said to the logger, **we didnt mean you no harm** we're just looking for a home, a real fine home.

10 years from now this will all be history.