(Associated Press)

By Canadian Press

expensive infestation

Alberta adds $5 million to fight against mountain pine beetle

Oct 31, 2019 | 5:05 PM

EDMONTON – Alberta is increasing what it spends to fight the mountain pine beetle in the province’s forests.

Forestry Minister Devin Dreeshen says the amount is going up by $5 million to a total of $30 million.

He says the money is to be spent on monitoring beetle infestations, as well as on early attack programs.

“The cost of doing nothing is not acceptable. We campaigned on this promise and we are reversing four years of the previous government’s cuts,” said Dreeshen.

“The federal government needs to step up and protect Western Canada’s forests. Alberta and Saskatchewan are both funding mountain pine beetle programming and we will continue to press Ottawa to take this seriously.”

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Paul Whittaker of the Alberta Forest Products Association says the Hinton area continues to be most threatened after a large flight of the beetles from Jasper National Park.

“We only need to look west to British Columbia to see the widespread environmental degradation and lost jobs that occur when too little action is taken to fight the scourge of the mountain pine beetle,” he noted.

Whittaker says last year’s cold winter was tough on the tiny insects, giving foresters a chance to try to reduce their overall numbers.