Good news and bad news on the pine beetle front

The CBC and the Globe are reporting some good news regarding BC's battle to stop the spread of pine beetle. Apparently, the rice grain-sized terrors have ran out of trees to eat. Thus, the hemorrhaging of BC's forestry industry is expected to slow. So what's the bad news? Scientists suspect that the lack of feed for pine beetles in BC will likely fuel their continued spread into Alberta. Perhaps BC will lend Alberta part of the $1 billion the federal government has agreed to grant the province over the next ten years? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the funding Alberta has received to fight pine beetle is basically non-existent, despite the fact that our Western border is under severe threat. Perhaps, the federal Conservatives think  pine beetle  money sent to the Conservative heartland of Canada is less politically expedient?

Comments

[One Alberta Voter]

You said to correct you if you are wrong, so here goes. I think the federal government actually provided a fair amount of money to Alberta to combat the MPB. Also, there is now evidence that the beetle numbers are dropping in some signficant parts of their eastern front in Alberta. Perhaps the whole crisis may have peaked, and not just in B.C. Let's hope that Alberta doesn't stick with its risk reduction strategy (i.e., increased logging) longer than the risk justifies.

[eh]

One Alberta Voter:

Thanks for keeping my cynicism in check. Hopefully Alberta's bout with pine beetle has indeed peaked.

[Trevor]

I haven't seen a follow-up to whether the cold snap we experienced in late January had any effect on the pine beetle population. Could anyone point me in that direction?

[eh]

Apparently the cold snap will help Alberta's infestation, but not BCs?

Here is a quote from an NP article about BC:

Says DeBoice: "If you have got trillions of beetles, and you still have 5% to 10% of them survive a cold winter, it's enough to maintain an increasing population. We can be confident in saying the weather events we are seeing are not going to wipe the population out or solve the problem. It's just too extensive. But every little bit helps."

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpposted/archive
/2008/01/29/cold-snap-won-t-kill-b-c-s-pine-beetles.aspx

And...here is a quote from a Sun article on Alberta:

While you were shivering, Alberta's pine beetles were dying by the hundreds and thousands, their match-head sized bodies unable to withstand the brutal, constant cold.

At least that's what Alberta's pine beetle experts are predicting, as the battlefront opens anew for another year of fighting in the forests.

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Platt_Michael
/2008/03/13/4988766-sun.php