By Donna Chapman
The Problem
My local issue is the mountain pine beetle in B.C. The mountain pine beetle (which is also called the Denroctonus Ponderosae) is destroying millions of trees and costing Canada billions of dollars. The mountain pine beetle infests and lives in the Lodgepole Pine Tree. The problem isn’t finding them - it's killing them.
The problem is the mountain pine beetle has a hugely oversized population because of its habitat (the pine beetle breeds in the Lodgepole Pine Tree - B.C.'s most common tree). The infestation has expanded from approximately 165,000 hectares in 1999 to 4.2. million hectares in 2003. Only a sustained period of cold weather will kill the pine beetle.
A map of the Mountain Pine Beetle infestation from 1959 - 2002.