How The Pine Beetle Could Devastate The BC Estate Market
• Canada is facing an unprecedented attack from the mountain pine beetle (MPB), Dendroctonus ponderosae. British Columbia has suffered the majority of the wrath from this tiny forest pest; however, Alberta may be facing the same epidemic over the next few years.
• The beetles are not following historical behaviors and are attacking pines 50 years younger than usual. Therefore, economic analyses to date may underestimate impacts.
• The federal and provincial governments have committed monies to mitigate the impact of the beetle, but is it too little, too late?
• By 2013, the provincial Ministry of Forests predicts the mountain pine beetle will destroy 80 percent of the marketable pine in the central and southern Interior forests. Half of the pine will likely be gone by the end of 2007.
• Not every tree will be killed! Many pine forests consist of mixed stands and others have new trees coming up from the understory.
• Broken down by province, British Columbia is the leading exporter of forest products in Canada at $13.7 billion.
• Salvage operations are expected to cost thousands per hectare and as of January 2007, 9.2 million hectares were under red attack.
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