I didn't know that there were beetles in other areas of NA killing trees like the pine beetles in our part of NA.
dreeder wrote:
Here in Colorado we have a similiar situation with the pine beetle, that little plaque has wreaked havoc on some of the forests here....:(
Same in BC. It's a terrible devastation in the forests and environmental disaster. Global warming is a major factor as the winters aren't cold enough now to kill the beetles off. All the dead trees on the forest floor create a huge fuel load for forest fires and trees that lie rotting on the ground contribute carbon to the atmosphere, further accelerating global warming. Another contributing factor has been lumber trucks freely hauling logs around regions with no regulatory controls.
When they do reforestation, they plant fir trees. Personally I think that is wrong. Natural forests have mixed species because nature has it that way for a reason.
The environment is also under attack in a lot of different areas and I have to wonder what the planet will be like in a hundred or thousand years from now....
Here in the PNW, we are permitted to transport softwood back and forth between Washington and BC as long as it is mill ends (manufactured sawn lumber).
When there is a burn ban in Wa. & BC in the summer, we use our portable propane campfire. Just isn't the same without the smoke and smell.