Expert says B.C. pine beetles have run out of food, stopping epidemic

The mountain pine beetle epidemic in British Columbia is coming to a close, but only because the pests are running out of food, a forestry representative says.

The latest figures from the B.C. government and the Council of Forest Industries estimate the beetles have infested more than half of B.C.'s marketable pine forest.

Doug Routledge, the council's vice-president of forestry, said the pine beetle populations are making their way across the Rocky Mountains into Alberta because the pine stands have collapsed in many areas of B.C.

Routledge said cold weather snaps over the past two years in the northeast part of the province have also helped to curb the spread.

He said the collapse will be hard on some forest-dependent communities, but new technology has extended the life of the beetle-killed wood and the province has many other species of trees to cut.

The latest estimates suggest the beetle has infected about 710 million cubic metres of pine — mostly of the lodgepole variety — which is more than half of the 1.35 billion cubic metres of saleable pine in the province.

The mountain pine beetle is as small as a grain of rice, but in large numbers it can take down a lodgepole pine from the inside.

The spread has been attributed to the fact that B.C. is believed to have three times more mature lodgepole pine than it did 90 years ago, mainly because equipment and techniques for protecting forests against wildfire have greatly improved over time.

Hot and dry summers leave pine trees drought-stressed and more susceptible to attacks by mountain pine beetles.