Pine furniture ? Canada facing pine beetle epidemic
29/09/2007
Pine trees in Canada's largest lumber exporting province are being ravaged by beetles, according to a new report.
The tiny insects have spread through more than 35,000 square miles of British Columbia's forests so far.
A report from the region's ministry of forests and range warns that if the beetles continue to kill at their current rate the equivalent of almost a quarter of the whole volume of market timber will be gone.
Rich Coleman, minister for forests and ranges, said the timber supply picture had changed considerably as the infestation had grown in size and complexity.
"This report maps out potential timber supply scenarios and refreshes our data package for planning sustainable forests and communities for the future," he said.
The beetles have lived on ponderosa pine in Western Canada for thousands of years, but nature has controlled major outbreaks by killing them with the extreme winter cold or forest fires.
British Columbia's forest industry is worth over $4 billion (£2 billion) to its economy. Unless weather conditions change the number of trees killed by 2015 is predicted to reach around a billion cubic metres.
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