Pine furniture ? Alberta fends off pine beetles
Sep 19 2007 12:00AM
Fire crews in Alberta, Canada plan to torch large sections of forest to avoid an infestation of pine beetles.
More than 35,000 square miles of pine trees in British Columbia, the country's largest lumber exporting province, have already been wiped out by the insects.
A spokesperson for Alberta's fire crews told The Globe and Mail newspaper the area has not had a fire for almost a century, making the old pine trees an attractive target for the creatures.
They intend to torch 1,300 hectares of pine forest, including part of the popular Banff National Park.
"There are a few provincial hiking trails up there, but it's a short-term inconvenience compared to the long-term gain in terms of fire safety and pine beetle containment," said Sean Nardella from the park's fire management department to The Globe and Mail.
A report from British Columbia's ministry of forests and ranges this week warned that the equivalent of almost a quarter of its market timber would disappear if the beetles continued to kill at their current rate.
Alberta officials aim to avoid a similar situation by adopting a different approach than their neighbours, highlighting that forest companies were not able to cut the wood fast enough to stop the beetles' spread.