Presentation to Examine Mountain Pine Beetle Opportunities

Wednesday, May 28, 2008 03:51 AM

Prince George, B.C. - An upcoming Conference and Public Presentation will explore the environmental, economic, and social challenges posed by the current mountain pine beetle (MPB) infestation as well as its spin-off effects.

On June 10^th, from 7:00–10:00pm at the UNBC Atrium, FORREX Forest Research Extension Partnership will host a Public Presentation.

The event, entitled “Seeing the Forest for the Trees: Diversifying the wealth derived from our Interior forests,” will be held in conjunction with the June 10^th and 11^th Conference “Mountain Pine Beetle: From lessons learned to community-based solutions.”

The Conference, presented by FORREX in collaboration with government, First Nations, industry, and non-government organizations, is attracting presenters and participants from British Columbia, Alberta, and beyond.

“Seeing the Forest for the Trees” will showcase individuals, community groups, and small businesses who have already derived new economic and social wealth from Interior forests, beyond traditional timber values. This event will include presentations by local leaders, as well as displays showcasing artwork, woodcrafts, non-timber forest products, recreational opportunities, value-added products, and new timber innovations.

In addition, over 40 research projects showcased at the Mountain Pine Beetle Conference will be on display along with a summary of key messages emerging from the Conference.

The free public presentation is designed to give members of the community a look at new opportunities arising out of the current challenges.

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Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 03:51 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: RRrabbitt on May 28 2008 7:17 AM

So... the Mountain Pine Beetles are coming here for a presentation about "their" economic possibilities ????

I thought they had already been here once before on a feeding frenzy... maybe they are coming back for snacks and to see what's left ??

Good time for our film people to consider a destruction theme movie... "Pine Beetle meets Mr. PG " .... "A fight on the Forest Floor"... starrrrringggg :....

:-)

V...

Posted by: giterdun on May 28 2008 8:45 AM

Trees are dead. Bugs are gone. Still no plan to utilize the resource. When will the bureaucrates wake up

Posted by: He speaks on May 28 2008 9:00 AM

Its amazing that we can still suck money out of the senior governments on this ticket.

We gave it to the Bureaucrats to figure out a solution, but they still muddling around. Must be nice to be working for the government. Make 80k a year and maybe make a decision once in a decade. No wonder they spend more time blaming there co-workers than taking responsibility.

Posted by: owl on May 28 2008 9:52 AM

Mountain pine beetle opportunities???

How about replanting??

How about tending the growth to decrease the length of the rotation time?

How about setting aside a small percentage of land for a faster growing species to allow some uses to continue in the medium term.

The we can always continue to make wooden beads from blue wood.

;-)

Posted by: Bridge on May 28 2008 10:08 AM

Isnt this the sort of information we should be looking for rather then more studies.

Hmmm I guess if you had a pony tail the blue wooden beads would be OK with it.

Cheers

Posted by: caranmacil on May 29 2008 6:30 PM

I do have a ponytail, thanks for the fashion tip! As for research, well we do need it. It is through research that viable uses for beetle attack wood will be found. It is also throuhg research that further understanding of pine beetle will be obtained. The pine beetle outbreak is NOT over, even in the PG area. There are still green pine out there being attacked and it is unclear how far the beetle will spread.
We have a surplus of 'common sense' which isnt really all that useful. Replanting of beetle attack requires prior harvest or rehabilitation in most cases. WHere the stand has been cut it WILL be regenerated without special funds required. In order to harvest the dead pine, you need a market, period. If we try to create new industries by giving the wood away we will run afoul of our trade agreements pretty quick.
Stand treatment to shorten rotation time really boils down to fertilizing. On the whole, this is a revenue negative procedure. The increase in crop value (due to shortened rotation) does not make up the cost of the procedure.
There are no indigenous species available which will grow significantly faster than those we are using, unless we use those with a much lower value ( aspen, cottonwood, etc).
This is a serious problem, folks and there are no easy solutions. Well not good ones anyway. That includes blaming politicians, since we are receiving funds from them for research surveys, etc.
On a brighter note there are some mitigating factors, including the potential for reducing rotation times in such species as pine and douglas fir, and the use of hardood species.