(Associated Press photo of a Mountain Pine Beetle)

By Troy Gillard

“The beetle stops here”

Alberta gets $60M from Ottawa to battle Mountain Pine Beetle

Oct 8, 2020 | 3:24 PM

The federal government is spending $68.4 million over three in the fight against the Mountain Pine Beetle.

Seamus O’Regan, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, says $60 million of that funding is going to the Alberta government for forest management and research.

Another $6.9 million is going to Parks Canada to mitigate mountain pine beetle impacts, including wildfire risks in the Rocky Mountain National Parks. $1.5 million goes to Natural Resources Canada to enhance its core research program.

Provincial officials say more than 147,000 trees killed by mountain pine beetles were detected by aerial surveys this year, over an area spanning almost eight million hectares, down significantly from the more than 244,000 trees detected last year. The number of trees killed by mountain pine beetles by forest area includes:

– Calgary – 3,298 in 2019; 1,437 in 2020

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– Edson – 140,997 in 2019; 115,020 in 2020

– Grande Prairie – 8,796 in 2019; 2,252 in 2020

– Lac La Biche – 342 in 2019; 135 in 2020

– Rocky Mountain House – 32,123 in 2019; 15,169 in 2020

– Slave Lake – 6,020 in 2019; 4,474 in 2020

– Whitecourt – 52,671 in 2019; 8,559 in 2020.

The province says aggressive control measures have been helped by cold weather over the last two years in significantly limiting the beetle’s success. They say they are now developing a detailed ground survey and control program for the upcoming winter, when individual mountain pine beetle infested trees will be cut and burned.

“The mountain pine beetle infestation is a huge threat to Alberta’s forests and I want to want to thank the federal government for recognizing the importance of this work. With this funding and Alberta’s successful management efforts last winter, Alberta will undertake the most comprehensive control plan the province has seen in two decades. The beetle stops here,” said Agriculture and Forestry Minister Devin Dreeshen.