The advance of the mountain pine beetle towards northern Saskatchewan’s forest has reversed course, at least for now.
The beetle has been marching towards Saskatchewan’s north for several years now, devastating forests in BC and Alberta along the way.
Last year it was 50 km away from the Saskatchewan-Alberta border in the north — now it’s 120 km away.
Provincial entomologist Dr. Rory McIntosh says it appears the beetle is no longer behaving as it would in an outbreak.
“I think the beetle is having a really hard time with getting a foothold. And they’re not amassing in the large enough numbers to create those mass attacks that allow them to get a foothold and build populations from those little pockets where they’re being found.”
Saskatchewan and Alberta have been teaming up over the last three years to halt the beetle’s spread in Alberta.
The Saskatchewan government today committed another $1.25 million this year towards that effort. The previous agreement saw the province contribute $1.7 million over three years.
Efforts will include enhanced surveillance and monitoring, removal of infested trees, and research and modelling to effectively direct program efforts.
The pine beetle outbreak has killed more than 18 million hectares of lodgepole pine forest in BC.
Surveys conducted in the fall of 2014 found no mountain pine beetles in Saskatchewan’s northwest.
However, there is already an established beetle population in Cypress Hills in the province’s southwest.