Pine furniture - widespread burning to stop pine blight
Aug 31 2007 12:00AM
Officials are preparing to torch large areas of Canada's forests in an attempt to get rid of the country's pine beetle epidemic.
The Rocky Mountain forests of Southern Alberta are particularly threatened by the pest.
And the pine beetle is already thought to be threatening to destroy 80 per cent of mature pines in nearby British Columbia.
The burning should kill many beetles and also create a natural barrier which may halt their spread eastwards.
Rob Harris, of Alberta's Sustainable Resource Development Group, told the Canadian Press: "This is the battle line, the border, right now.
"You skip right over those mountains there and 'Pow', you're in beetle country."
Dr Allan Carroll, a leading mountain beetle researcher with the Canadian Forest Service, said: "British Columbia is measuring mountain pine beetle impacts by the millions of hectares and Alberta is still counting single trees.
"We have the potential to do something whereas in BC it's all been directed toward salvaging the dead trees."