Pine beetle infestation a threat to Jasper

Trees killed by insects become fuel for massive fires,

It’s been a terrible year for forest fires in North America.

Dozens of lives were lost to a massive blaze in northern California. We also saw unprecedented destruction in British Columbia, with some devastating spillover into Waterton National Park. It all brings back painful memories of last year’s Fort McMurray tragedy.

There’s an important lesson in all of this destruction, though. We can’t let our guard down on forest management. We need to actively identify areas that could burn and take steps to prevent the next catastrophe.

Back in 2007-08, when the Grande Prairie area was hit with a large inflight of mountain pine beetles from British Columbia, the Alberta government spent $85 million to fight the infestation. That funding worked.

The beetle moved through the region and, although forests were damaged, they were spared the widespread destruction and fires that we have seen in B.C. Now, $85 million is a lot of money, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the $9 billion in damages, firefighting costs and lost productivity the fire in Fort McMurray caused.

If you ask a professional forester where the next devastating fire might happen, they’d probably point to Hinton and Jasper. That’s because a massive pine beetle epidemic has killed much of the pine in Jasper National Park and is surging toward Hinton. Once the pine are dead, they become a huge fuel source just waiting for a spark. It happened this summer in B.C. and there’s no reason it can’t happen here, too.

Forest companies also have a role to play in preventing fires. Beginning in 2006, Alberta implemented the Healthy Pine Strategy. Under this strategy, forest compa- nies and government worked together to identify older stands of pine, which are much more susceptible to fire than younger stands. These stands were then logged and replanted.

The younger forests that result are much more fireresilient.

I know logging isn’t always popular; it can be hard to see a vista that you cherish changed. But the reality is, fire is part of our landscape, and with our climate changing, fires are becoming unnaturally large and intense.

In a busy landscape like that around Jasper and Hinton, it makes sense to harvest older pine to help prevent fires. This strategy has been very successful. It played a large role in dealing successfully with the beetle in Grande Prairie and a subsequent outbreak in the Whitecourt region.

One gap in the strategy, though, is Jasper National Park. The beetle has essentially been left to its own devices in the park. The results have been devastating. The entire region is now on the verge of a potential disaster, with massive threats to life, property, and forestry jobs.

We need to take action before it’s too late. A good first step would be for the provincial government to treat this infestation as a disaster and allocate funding to mitigate fire risk. Estimates show that about $85 million is needed to control the infestation and stop the spread of the pine beetle.

The federal government needs to take action, too. We have a chance here in Alberta to stop an epidemic that could go nationwide. The beetle has been left to run wild in Jasper National Park, but federal funding would go a long way to stopping it from spreading further.

It’s not too late to act, but we need to take steps now to prevent another tragedy. Close co-operation between government and industry and smart investments in pine beetle control can help avert a disaster.