Fuchsia Dragon | [email protected]
The extreme cold that struck Alberta in February may have knocked the pine beetles that have ravaged Jasper鈥檚 forests back.
David Argument, a resource conservation manager for Parks Canada, said: 鈥淚 have been asked a lot if the cold snap will change the circumstances.
鈥淲e can certainly take some pleasure knowing that it certainly killed a lot of beetles,鈥� he revelled. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 good - let those guys suffer.鈥�
Argument said it has been estimated that there was a 90 per cent mortality rate in the beetles in Jasper.
But because we also had a large snowfall this year, some beetles will have taken shelter from the cold in the snow beneath the trees and likely survived.
鈥淚t is not, sadly, a stop to the problem,鈥� Argument said.
The number of red trees will still rise this year, as it takes some time for the colour to change.
After pine beetles have infested a tree, it takes about a year for the needles turn yellow, orange and then red. The red needles drop off and the tree appears grey after two to four years.
About 93,000 hectares of the park鈥檚 200,000-hectare pine forests were affected in the federal agency鈥檚 winter 2017 survey.
Argument said Parks continues to monitor the beetles and has another survey scheduled for May.
鈥淲e look forward to the report on if the cold we endured may slow down the problem,鈥� he said.
The epidemic of pine beetles moved into Alberta from British Columbia. Their survival in higher elevations around Jasper has been enabled by our usually warmer winters - resulting from climate change.
A past practice of extinguishing wildfires in the park has allowed our forests to become denser and older, accelerating the beetle鈥檚 spread.
And while Parks Canada and the municipality have been working on thinning forest, Argument said we still have a lot to catch up on after years of suppressing forest fires.
Researchers now believe forest fires should be allowed to burn 鈥� except where lives or property are threatened.
Some pine trees in the national park will dodge the beetle, but we can expect to see more dead trees, and eventually, more growth of bushes, ferns, and wildflowers.
Pine forests in British Columbia and Waterton National Park previously destroyed by pine beetles did regenerate over time.
