Comox Valley Naturalists Society

October, 2003
Frank Hovenden

In a recent address Premier Gordon Campbell suggested that logging be permitted in Tweedsmuir and other provincial parks as a means to combat the mountain pine beetle. Such a simplistic answer may have appealed to his audience at the time; however, it has no basis on the best science on which I would hope such a decision would be founded. It is being used as a key to enter our parks for industrial purposes. This not only violates the Park Act but flies in the face of good science.

The mountain pine beetle is a small insect, the size of a grain of rice, that mines the phloem (the growing part of the tree bark) in mature pine trees. These are native insects, which are an important part of the forest ecology in the interior pine forests. There is an important relationship between the beetle, wild fire, and lodgepole pine ecosystems. They operate together and must be considered as an interrelated system.

Beetle epidemics, which kill a large proportion of mature pine trees, contribute to fuel build up in the forest. This in turn leads to the probability of large-scale stand-replacing fires, like the ones we have witnessed this summer. This results in perfect conditions for the regeneration of dense stands of lodgepole pine. As these mature, they in turn become the perfect habitat for the mountain pine beetle. This cycle is part of the natural ecosystem in many parts of the interior of the province. The beetle and the tree have evolved together for thousands of years along with wild fire. A solution must consider all the components.

The current infestation is huge and there are many contributing factors to it. The Premier claims that the beetle infestation has destroyed four times as much timber as this years catastrophic wildfires.

The forest management system practiced in the province has only aided and abetted the size of the current outbreak. Total fire suppression has meant that large areas in the province are forested with mature stands of lodgepole pine. This is the preferred habitat for the beetle and makes these forests susceptible to beetle attack. Natural fire would have resulted in more diverse landscape with forests of many ages and structures. This has not been allowed to happen. Large clearcuts also have a similar result of creating large areas of dense lodgepole pine.

With perfect habitat available, all the beetle needs is a trigger. The current unprecedented series of warm winters has been that trigger. Sudden cold snaps or winter temperatures (less than -40 degrees C) will kill the mountain pine beetle. Unfortunately theses conditions have not occurred for many years. Human beings have assured that, thanks to climate change as a result of our addiction to fossil fuels.

Forestry practices and climate change have all contributed to the epidemic we are witnessing. Most of the beetle infestation is outside the parks and protected areas, which form less than 6% of the total forest in the Cariboo/Chilcotin. If the parks had been clearcut 10 years ago there would still be a beetle epidemic today.

Solutions will mean a responsible ecological plan involving fire management and long-term stand management in provincial forests.
The forestry business in BC is under pressure from all fronts. Logging in Tweedsmuir may help a few local contractors, but does BC need the black eye that logging in parks would give it? The suggestion was ludicrous and I hope that sober second thought will dismiss it. Logging our parks is not going to stop the current epidemic. Parks must be allowed to function and protect natural ecosystems. They are out of bounds for industrial forestry.

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