The mountain pine beetle epidemic in British Columbia (BC) is projected to kill 78% of the province’s marketable pine forests by 2015 if it continues at its present rate, according to a new report.
The BC government report “Timber Supply and the Mountain Pine Beetle Infestation in British Columbia – 2007 update” also says that 23% of the total volume of marketable timber could be killed in the next eight years.
The report says the epidemic will have killed 530 million m³ of pine by 2007, and one billion m³ by 2015. But the spread rate is expected to reduce within a couple of years.
“There is uncertainty about how the infestation will proceed, how much mortality will be experienced in younger stands, how much of the harvest will be directed to stands with significant beetle kill, and the length of time dead pine can be used for sawlogs or other products,” says the report.
The 20 harvesting areas analysed in the report account for 87% of the mature pine in the interior of the province.
