Mountain Pine Beetle

[Tom Sawyer]

Here is a link to a CBC story about the mountain pine beetle.

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2008/03/25/bc-pine-beetle.html

[pappy19]

If it is cut right and the "green chain" technique is used, you can cut timber and trap most all of the bark beetles and keep them in check. It just takes good forestry and cooperation with the logging comunity.

[Ron Scott]

 At least there is evidence of one supporter of active forest management to deal with the dead and dying lodgepole forests of the Rocky Mtns. This came from today's Denver Post Letters to the Editor.

This same message needs to come from the agency and the professional forestry organizations.

"Forty million dollars of our stimulus money is going to the Forest Service to handle the beetle-kill areas. I think it's great that this "free" money has been made available to help with this situation, but I wonder how much more could be accomplished if we just opened up the national forests to harvesting this 2.5 million acres of dead trees by anyone, especially lumber companies. This could stimulate business by reducing the cost of lumber and wood products, provide cheaper heating, and perhaps make use of a resource that otherwise is going to go to waste. The Forest Service could even make money by selling permits to harvest the dead wood."

Richard Niebels, Centennial

[Tom]

The administrations leaders of the USDA and USFS are so in bed with the environmental-whacko-conservationist and Global Warming enthusiests that they wouldn't dare lean toward industry solutions for fear of loud retributions from the socialist left who support President Obama and his cronies.

[woodtroll]

I am not sure that CO has enough industry left to deal with the problem.
Even with $40 mill, how would you handle this? Firewood ,that is a lot at one time. Who do you sell to. Cogen plant, there is a large supply of fuel now but in 10 years? There very little trees left in these bug areas. Lumber, who wants bug hit logs, there is plenty available where the industry is already present. They do not want more, they have a hard enough time selling good wood, not to mention blued wood. Have you looked at log prices lately?
The forestry end dropped the ball, we need to learn from that.
What is the solution? I don't know. But I know with $40 million some hair brained ideas will come up.

[pappy19]

Way back when, if Lodgepole pine was bug hit, it almost always had blue stain and you couldn't give it away. Now, blue stain pine sells for a premium for interior T&G, go figure.

[woodtroll]

Tell that to our mills

[Ron Scott]

Pine Beetle Blamed for Canfor Corp. Sawmill Closure

The Vancouver Sun reported that Canfor Corporation is shutting down its Quesnel sawmill and the pine beetle is partly to blame. According to the paper, the mill is now running on an almost steady diet of pine beetle-killed wood, which is raising costs and producing lower-grade lumber.

For more information, visit the Vancouver Sun website. Also see "Pine Beetle Blamed for BC Forestry Layoffs," from CBC News.

The E-Forester

[Samuel]

If it is cut right and the "green chain" technique is used, you can cut timber and trap most all of the bark beetles and keep them in check. It just takes good forestry and cooperation with the logging comunity.

Not to be biased or opinionated (far be it from me) these tactics used first by BC and now by Alberta will result in the MPB reaching the east coast within 10 years.  Its harsh to say the governments would not allow forest companies to properly manage these areas of high risk stands, rather than forking out millions of dollars falling and burning sigle stems, it just baffles me.

Having worked for both governments in BC and Alberta, and now in industry, I do speak with some knowledge about the matter.  Sorry for the rant, but I did not want anyone to get the wrong idea that this issue is under control.

[Ron Scott]

CNN Pine Beetle Story.

Just posted this morning. Here's the link:

http://money.cnn.com/video/fortune/2010/09/15/f_bsg_pine_beetle_wood.fortune

Well done.

[iffy]

My son lives in the Winter Park, Co area. For the last several years when he has gone in to try to get a firewood permit he has been told they do not have any areas open for firewood cutting. This is in a forest that is mostly gone. Hasn't affected him too much, because there is so much dead wood on private property it is no problem to get permission to cut. So what is wrong with the forestry department that they can't open up some areas to firewood cutting?

[Ron Scott]

Good Question? Were they asked why not? Maybe its a safety issue with so much dead timber being a hazard.

[iffy]

He did ask and got the typical government worker response. "Don't know why, just following orders". I also suspect that it may be because of the fuel load. I am absolutely totally amazed that there has not been a major fire in the RM national park and surrounding area. Given the density of hikers, campers, and outdoorsmen, I would have thought something would have flared up by now. Actually I think lightning starts more fires than people, and that hasn't even happened. I don't think it's going to be pretty when it happens, because there are a lot of homes where there were no homes before, and the fuel load is enormous.

[Ron Scott]

Yes, the added fuel load of more fine fuels would also be a concern, also depends upon their fire plan and also if they are trying to have the areas harvested under a commercial harvest to remove the fuel load as quickly as possible.

Lightning strikes are a great fire starter in the western mountain states. Probably just a mater of time before the area has a major fire, unless the fuel load is removed somehow.

[woodtroll]

If it is Rocky Mountain National Park, you can't cut firewood, pick up firewood or anything else. It's a park so it's hands off. The strategy I see them using is ... well there is none. From the info I have read they are cutting hazard trees near private homes and treating high value trees with insecticides, that's it.  They are running with the principle that it is natural and therefore good.
IMO the increase fire risk is short term. While the red needles are on, Two-three years. Then the fuels get bigger, branches and boles of trees. Bigger fuels,harder to start. It is hard to have a crown fire after the crown is gone. It will be hard to put out a fire once it is going. There will likely have more grasses growing up (light flashy fuels). The trees will be lots of heavy fuel, burning hotter, longer. Access harder. What will that do to the soil when it does burn?

Two things have struck me about the NP's that I have read with in the last few days pertaining to this.
1 " there is nothing you can do to about mountain pine beetle on a large scale basis." (don't let it get large scale)
2 "Large scale wildfires and mountain pine beetle epidemics are neither bad or good they just are"

[iffy]

The area my son was trying to get a permit in was the forest surrounding the national park. There is some commercial logging going on, but all of the local mills have more wood than they want now. I needed some logs to build a front porch on the log house I am building so I called my son earlier this summer and asked him if there was somewhere around him that I could buy some 8" to 10" logs. He started laughing and said "yeh, I can probably find you some". When I got out there I saw what he was laughing about. Virtually every building lot has a pile of logs on it. I went up with him to look at a house construction job he was bidding and there were several piles of logs on that lot. I asked the landowner if he would sell some logs and he told me to take all the logs I could haul, as he didn't know how he was going to get rid of them. I was able to pick and choose the best logs. Unfortunately I just took my F250 because I just needed a few logs. Wish I would have pulled my trailer. Headlights were shining kinda high when I headed home.  :D