Bark beetle

The Vancouver Sun is reporting that the salvage logging (Kalamitätsnutzung) of the beetle-killed pine forests in British Columbia is being blamed for moose populations in the interior crashing by up to 70%.

But the precise effect of pine bark beetle plagues on the nitrogen cycle and carbon cycle is highly variable, says a research group led by the University of Idaho, who have used an ecosystem model to simulate outbreaks.

Watching the pine beetles kill off the Chilcotin's vast stands of lodgepole pine forest was bad enough for cattle rancher Randy Saugstad.

A large faction of the American public has become convinced that the only way to
conserve our prized forests on public lands is to stop harvesting, prevent wildfires, and restrict or
exclude forest management. Too often this “lock it up and let it go” mentality can have
unintended, disastrous consequences, as demonstrated across the nation in recent years. The
extensive mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreaks in lodgepole pine (Pinus