Damage caused by the mountain beetle outbreak in British Columbia will peak in the summer next year and could continue for 15 years, according to a federal-provincial forestry study.
The report states that during the summer of 2006, 90 million m3 of merchantable pine on the timber harvesting landbase may be killed.
And based on the behaviour of the outbreak to date, there is no reason to expect it will kill less than 80% of the pine volume.
In a separate study, Lorraine Maclauchlan, a regional entomologist with the Ministry of Forests, is looking at how pine beetle outbreaks start and spread.
She has discovered that growing beetle populations come not from pine but transitional forests with Douglas fir and spruce.
Beetle-killed wood can be used for dimensional lumber for at least the winter and summer logging seasons after the tree dies, and to take advantage of this Ainsworth Lumber Co is to build two OSB mills in Prince George and Quesnel at a cost of more than C$400m.
However, experts have warned that many sawmills may have to close in the next 10 years while the forest regrows after the dead trees are harvested.
