The provincial government is helping Alberta in its battle against the mountain pine beetle in an effort to protect the $400-million-a-year softwood lumber industry in this province.
Saskatchewan is providing Alberta with nearly half a million dollars to prevent the beetle from establishing itself in this province.
The Ministry of Environment’s chief entomologist, Dr. Rory McIntosh, says it is money well spent:
“We certainly have some values at risk right here in Saskatchewan. It’s the northern boreal forest. There are ecological services that are of immeasurable value. There is caribou habitat. There are multiple values that are at stake here.”
The beetle has already laid waste to 60% of BC’s lodgepole pine forests and it is moving east.
It has now spread halfway across Alberta and there have been infected trees in the Cypress Hills area of Saskatchewan.
The money will be used to monitor and remove infected trees on the eastern edge of the Alberta infestation.