Click here to email Chris Gardner
11/16/2009
The fight to contain a massive swarm of tree-killing mountain pine beetles before they spread further east is getting $25 million from the Alberta and federal governments.
Another wave of the tiny bugs, which have already destroyed about one-quarter of B.C.'s pine forests, washed deep into Alberta this summer _ some of the insects are within an hour's drive west of Edmonton.
The governments say the money will be used to hire crews to detect and remove infested trees, which turn red and die from a fungus the beetles carry. It's feared that if the trees aren't removed, new beetle swarms could spread into the boreal forest which runs across the country.
Conservative MP Rob Merrifield says the funding will create jobs in Alberta communities that have been hit hard by the slumping forestry industry.
Alberta Susatainable Resource Development's Duncan MacDonnell says the removal of infected trees is a labor-intensive task, and that means employment opportunities.
"There are going to be quite a few contracts let for control work primarily though that Slave Lake-Whitecourt-Edson-Hinton band of Lodgepole."
Ted Morton, Alberta's sustainable resources minister, says with money tight, the province must focus its anti-beetle plan on where it can do the most good. (The Canadian Press, ccg, ms)
On the Net:
MPB.Alberta.ca: Alberta's mountain pine beetle site
Alberta Purchasing Connection: Links to contract opportunities
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