Pine beetles and salvage logging in BC

Pine forest, BC. Photo: Canadian Wildlife Fed.

In a 5-part series on pine beetles, salvage logging, and the environment (December 2011), reporter Larry Pynn with the Vancouver Sun delves into the massive salvage logging in BC and how BC is managing - or mismanaging - its forests in the face of climate change.

Part 1: In the wake of a plague

The plan was simple: Log and sell as much dead pine as possible before it decayed or burned. But the environmental costs of the large-scale salvaging of Interior forests are still being tallied.

Part 2: 'Dead' pine forests very much alive

Contrary to public perception, pine forest floors are flush with growth, and wildlife is abundant.

Part 3: A flood of problems for ranchers

Interior land owners claim that in a rush to salvage wood, logging companies contribute to flooding in some areas, water shortages in others, threatening farmland and fish.

Part 4: 'It looks like Armageddon'

For those who rely on wilderness tourism for a living, the destruction of B.C. pine forests has been a nightmare — one that continues due to salvage logging practices.

Part 5: Forestry's 'perfect storm'

Companies salvage-logging the Interior's dead pine forests struggle to keep afloat against a much greater threat -- the collapse of markets in a stalled economy, reports Larry Pynn in the final installment of his five-part series on the calamity of pine beetle infestation.

Effect on wildlife: Forest denizens struggle in clearings

Salvage logging sends prey scrambling while predators wonder where the food has gone.

For more information on the pine beetle's affect on forests, check out Stephanie Paige Ogburn's blog for High Country News.