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Spruce beetle killing mid-term timber supply in Cariboo

Rapidly advancing insect threatening Cariboo supply area
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By Ken Alexander – Black Press

Cariboo North MLA Coralee Oakes is very concerned about the current spread of spruce beetle in the Northern Interior.

Noting she has been talking to several groups, including forestry and First Nations, the MLA says there is a significant fear the spruce beetle march is very much like the pine beetle invasion.

British Columbia communities are still trying to recover from the damage that was caused by that little insect with the voracious appetite.

“What have we learned from the pine beetle?”

Oakes notes the epicentre for the pine beetle showed up in Tweedsmuir Provincial Park and the government of the day decided to study it rather than go on the offensive.

She says the government cannot wait and study the spruce beetle epidemic because it’s growing exponentially – 50 per cent cumulatively per year.

“It grew significantly last year because of our weather pattern. It had a huge increase and moved up into the Peace River, and it’s just about at the boundary of the Quesnel Timber Supply area.

Pine beetle damaged trees were marketable for about 10 years after the attack, but beetle-killed spruce disintegrates in three to four years.