Thousands of forestry jobs may disappear in Canada

August 13, 2010 by timbercommunity

The outbreaks of bark beetle "mountain pine beetle" will have serious consequences for employment and forest industry in the Canadian region British Columbia. To date, the bark beetle has killed half of the region final felling mature lodgepole pine and in a twenty years is expected to more than 11 000 job opportunities disappear.

The past 90 years, Canada has had 4-5 major outbreak of mountain pine beetle. But the latest outbreak, which started in 1999, is the most serious so far. The epidemic has been exacerbated by a series of mild winters. According to the Canadian Forest Service Canadian Forest Authority has been the decline in natural forest fires made that there are more mature trees that are susceptible to attack.

The ongoing bark beetle outbreak reached its peak  2005 and expected to last another 14 years, according to the BC Forest Service.Based on this projection, by 2024, 69% of mature lodgepole pines in the B.C. interior will be killed. This represents 20% of the province’s total timber harvest land base writes economist John Clinkard in journalofcommerce.