New Research Angle on Mountain Pine Beetle

Friday, January 11, 2008 03:45 AM

Prince George, B.C. - Three Researchers at the University of Northern B.C. are taking part in a special project that will see phase one take place over 2 years at a cost of $4 million dollars.

UNBC Professors Dezene Huber, Brent Murray and Brian Aukema will be part of the team of scientists from B.C. and Alberta who will examine the genetic interaction between the mountain pine beetle, the fungus it carries and pine trees.

The initial two-year project with a value of $4 million, is being funded equally by Genome British Columbia and Genome Alberta.

In B.C. 13 million hectares have already been devastated by the infestation - the largest ever in Canada - and in Alberta well over 1.5 million trees have been damaged.

"In Phase I of this project we will do something that has never been done - we are investigating the interactions between the three different kinds of organisms at the level of their genomes (the complete DNA sequence of one set of chromosomes) What are the characteristics that allow this bug, carrying this infectious agent, to damage this tree in these conditions? The knowledge about how these distinct biological systems interact with each other will support more accurate and far reaching forest harvesting and management decisions for Canada and other lumber-producing nations," says Dr. Joerg Bohlmann, a University of BC forestry scientist, recognized globally for his expertise in tree genomics, who is a project co-leader.

The other project co-leader is Dr. Janice Cooke, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta. She says that "The multidisciplinary team that we have been able to bring together for this project has critical expertise that allows us to investigate interactions between the mountain pine beetle, its fungal associates, and pine trees in an integrative fashion.

The information gathered from this research is expected to be put to use in dealing with any other infestations.

While this first phase of the Mountain Pine Beetle Project is being funded by British Columbia and Alberta Genome groups, it is expected that a more comprehensive national and international effort with an additional $10 million budget will follow.

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Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 03:45 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: thereasonableman on January 11 2008 3:52 AM

The horse gets out, and 10 years later they close the barn doors.

Posted by: palomino on January 11 2008 6:12 AM

Make that 20 years! The NDP in the early years of their rein were warned consistently of the coming disaster by bush pilots who flew over the spreading red stain on the forest canopy on a regular basis, one of whom I kenew personally, and who was both a logger, and a pilot. As a logger, who worked in the area, this individual saw exactly what was happening, and took it upon himself to get the word out to forestry many times, all to no avail.

They refused to listen for several reasons, one - it was starting in a wilderness park, where no logger would ever be allowed to set foot, even to stop a disaster, two - the park was in an area where only very few people would ever see the devastation at that time, other than "bush" pilots who flew over it, three - the general public was unaware of the pending disaster, and no brownie points could be scored by a politician who'd take up the cause, and even suggest letting loggers ( who were working six kilometers from the park boundary at the time ) step on their "sacred" ground, and four - if left alone, the beetle would probably take several years to spread far enough to start ringng the alarm bells, and by that time those politicians in power would probably be retired, so it'd be somebody else's problem.

Don't ever tell me this was an "unexpected" disaster ! The government of the day knew FULL WELL what was coming, and did NOTHING to stop it !!

palomino

Posted by: Andyfreeze on January 11 2008 7:31 AM

I couldn't agree more palomino!
They knew this was coming, and they diddled until it was too late.
And the politicians are STILL pretending it isn't happening,other than a token lip service,even though they do know full well what the final results will be for the forest industry in B.C.
Now watch what happens over the next few years as they all try to cover their overpaid asses!

Posted by: pisspulper on January 11 2008 8:28 AM

$4 million for researchers to tell us what we new years ago and to prophecise the further impending doom. 13 million hectares vs 1.5 million trees, wonder what the money split to each province is? I think i need to become a researcher/scientist since the government is willing to dole dollars without hesitation to theorists rather than deal with the industries' current woes. $2 million/ 10 researchers/2 years= $100K annually or better. And after the research we will hear more jibberish about life cycle, travel methodology,lack of cold winters, but not those infamous words " You should have dealt with the problem immediately" Spend taxpayers dollars to justify inaction and perpetuate CYA principles. Now that's what government is all about, govern your way out of the fiasco. Don't bother blaming any politcal party for these debacles, you probably elected them.

"The multidisciplinary team that we have been able to bring together for this project has critical expertise that allows us to investigate interactions between the mountain pine beetle, its fungal associates, and pine trees in an integrative fashion.

Can you smell the BS in PG, i can smell it on the coast. And YES the damn beetle has made it to the coast!! I still suggest we ship them back to the US, that's just good business sense.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on January 11 2008 9:24 AM

Your right pisspulper!
It has made it's way to the coast, and is starting to show up in many communities down south on a small scale so far.
That will change very quickly.
The biggest problem the issue is facing right now,is the beauacracy and red tape that eats up what little money that has been doled out federally and provincially.
How much is actually getting to the communities that really need it?

Posted by: northman on January 11 2008 10:05 AM

Beauacracy and lack of common sense have done more dammage then the pine beetle has ever done.

Posted by: kevin1006 on January 11 2008 12:54 PM

If ignorance is bliss then there are a lot of people riding cloud 9...

The ignorance of how nature really works; the ignorance of how nature takes a seeming negative and turns it into a positive; the ignorance that money is God on Earth and that all decisions should be made according to what the God of this system - money - wants. Then the ignorant can't figure out to save their life why there are so many environmental problems on Earth. The ignorant turn to beetles and what ever else they can to put the blame everywhere except where it belongs:

On stupid, selfish greedy humans. We as a species are getting exactly what we deserve and I fully expect it to get worse before it gets better and this one human, that does understand that money isn't God, is going to enjoy watching my species be humbled.

Power on Beetle and teach the loggers and all the other destroyers what is really top dog... the real God.

Posted by: caranmacil on January 11 2008 1:06 PM

Lets not forget the role of the the environmental movement , or more to the point, the govts attempt to appease it. We have, for years been spending millions to control pine beetle. As long as i have been in forestry (and likely before) there have been efforts to control beetle outbreaks. Crews were flown in to log and burn small beetle kill patches and green attacks. However, due to the fairly rigid planning systems in place and to a reluctance to log large patches of forest without considering block size, the effect on scenic values, aboriginal uses (past and present) and a whole list of other concerns, effective controls were not used (read clearcut here folks). We were STILL wasting chopper fuel and money when the beetle broke out in the cariboo, and we did not shift into a realistic control strategy until it was too late.
There is blame to pass out here. I am not talking about global warming here. There were beetle outbreaks before this century, before global warming. It is partly due to our success at controlling forest fires, as this has provided us wiht a lot of food for the beetle. It was fire, after all which planted all of these pine stands in the first place. The fault lies with the ministry of of forests, whose job it is to manage the resource. The govt. (elected officials) should NOT be interfering with the MOF so we should not blame them unless through their interference the MOF was prevented from doing the job.
The govt. DID prevent logging in the park and this was the seed of theoutbreak. However, the seed would, in my view have been planted on crown land in the next decade or so in the cariboo regardless. The area is very sparsely populated. The timber is comparatively low value. No one in govt gives a damn about that area, as anyone who lives there can tell you. It was the job, in my opinion of the foresters in the district, the region and the province to protect the resource, AS THEY ARE LEGALLY BOUND TO DO. Why is it then, that no one ever asks why they didnt do their utmost (as a very powerful organization) to alert the province to the disaster coming our way?