Oops... another study for the climate deniers to be disgusted about. Maybe the infections are just in the scientists imagination, or all those beetles are part of the global conspiracy.

This article is 100% bullsh*t. Warm weather is not what attracts these beetles to the trees, and most likely the authors knew it. At the very least, they (authors) should have done a little bit of investigatory work before they spewed their lies.

The author(s) should be chastised by their peers and publicly humiliated. Shame on them for discrediting science, wasting money, and misleading the public.

And, right on schedule the denialist shows up with his vitriolic and yet completely content-free denial. Qu'elle surprise.

For the record, the pine beetle has been around for a long time but they get killed back by really cold winters. Unfortunately really cold winters have been getting scarce in BC, with the result that the pine beetle has been spreading relatively unchecked.

Poor ScooTard. If he had even half a brain he would realize that the huge infestation of insects is a result of a lack of cold weather and freezing temperatures that are cold enough to kill them off.

"Warm weather is not what attracts these beetles to the trees" - ScooTard

Warmer winters in Canadian forests mean more wood boring insects survive to spring, resulting in dramatically higher insect populations in summer, and dramatically higher levels of insects boring into the trees, and therefore higher mortality rates of trees in Canadian Forests.

ScooTard has been told about this on several earlier occasions, but like all Denialists, he is incapable of learning.

With Republican Disease, death is the only cure.

I recall hearing of this problem a couple years ago. It would be interesting to hear of what is planned to remediate the side effects (like the effect on the climate, perhaps others like erosion). Are the affected areas being replanted with a resistant species, etc.

This has been going on for the better part of two decades now. The problem has been vastly understated. The vast majority of our forests have been infested. Say goodbye to pine trees in North America as the beetles move south and east.

The pine beetles are actually a normal resident of the forests around here. Canada government has a bit more background info on the issue: http://www.for.go...acts.htm

There are several contributing factors. Historically, forest fires and cold winters (-30C for multiple weeks) keeps the population in check, but due to suppression of forest fires, hot summers that weakens the resistance of the trees, less severe winters and tripling of the pine forests in the last 100 years, the balance has been disturbed and the population has exploded.

The infestation peaked in 2005 and is now on its decline, after killing enough trees to constitute 710 million cubic meters of timber. I have difficulties imagining how much wood that is.

Scooter - "before they spewed their lies." Please substantiate your accusations with examples (in plural) of the lies they told - and references to credible sources that support the accusation that they are lies.

The beetles are not attracted by "warming weather". They are attracted to pine trees - for a variety of reasons.

They imply there was previously a "stable climate". I think even a pick-nose like you would agree this ain't possible.

@jvro

What an interesting piece of noise. You spout a few platitudes, then conclude "therefore we can't affect the climate". This is the real problem with denialist arguments -- they're nothing but talking points and unsubstantiated accusations. Doesn't matter how many times we prod ScooterG, he's never going to come up with any actual references. It's all about rhetoric.

The pine beetle may be the only thing that can actually save our forests. The enviro-nazis have limited logging and extinguished forest fires for decades, all in the name of "protect our environment".

Now, thanks to the enviro-nazis, our forests are overgrown with too many trees, all of which are stressed, unhealthy, attractive to beetles, and susceptible to beetle kill.

The beetles are simply thinning the forests, something the enviro-nazis will never admit needed to be done. The beetle-kill areas will create fire-breaks, greatly minimizing catastrophic fire danger. And - due to increased sunlight hitting the forest floor - other beneficial forms of vegetation will begin to grow.

I suspect the transpiration this study worries about will indeed take a dive, but only until the surviving trees grow larger and more healthy (due to less competition), and other flora takes root.

Don't panic. Mother nature knows what she's doing. It's all part of the cycle.

People have been going up and down for hundreds of thousands of years, so it is impossible to die by falling out of an airplane.

Sadly this is the best example of what Republicans call Logic.

"The Earth has been getting warmer or colder for 4,000,000,000 years." - Ivro

Absolutely. By destoying the forests the pine beetles are saving them.

It is just like when George Bush saved the souls of all those Iraqi women and children he murdered.

God praise him.

"The pine beetle may be the only thing that can actually save our forests. The enviro-nazis have limited logging and extinguished forest fires for decades, all in the name of "protect our environment"." - ScooTard

Scooter is one dumb MFer.

"WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH" - ScooTard

Just like we will be culling the herd when Denialists start to be hung in the street for crimes against nature and man.

"The beetles are simply thinning the forests, something the enviro-nazis will never admit needed to be done." - ScooTard

When animals expand their numbers beyond the carrying capacity of their range, they die off until a balance is achieved. Why would this same principle not apply to trees?

Because plants make their own food you ignorant SOB. They are also very valuable for their carbon fixing ability, but well you're too F-ing stupid to get the value of that.

I am pleased that you understand why your kind will soon be culled.

"When animals expand their numbers beyond the carrying capacity of their range, they die off until a balance is achieved." - ScooterG

Because plants make their own food you ignorant SOB. They are also very valuable for their carbon fixing ability, but well you're too F-ing stupid to get the value of that.

Don't know much about farming, do you?

Heh, you're pathetic.

Heh, you're pathetic.

And you are ignorant. Your type of thinking is what has the forests in the condition they are currently in.

60 years or so of enviro-nazi forest mismanagement got us where we are - more enviro-naziism will only make the situation worse.

And to pile discredit upon discredit, you now want to blame global warming???

Mother nature gave you bozos an opportunity to prove your capabilities and you failed. Mother nature is now saying to you "sit down, stay out of the way, and STFU!"

Don't know much about farming, do you?

You really don't get why this is such an ignorant statement, do you?

At least I have enough tact not to call you a nazi; however, you definitely have fascist tendencies, as do most 'conservatives'. Like I said, you're pathetic.

Don't know much about farming, do you?

You really don't get why this is such an ignorant statement, do you?

At least I have enough tact not to call you a nazi; however, you definitely have fascist tendencies, as do most 'conservatives'. Like I said, you're pathetic.

Plants require food, water, and sunlight in order to "manufacture their own food". Too little of any of these three elements will cause plant stress. Too many trees in too small an area creates shortages of food, water, and sunlight.

That's why farmers cannot, for example, double their seeding rate and expect to double their production rate. If they could, we would have resolved world hunger years ago and would now enjoy low food prices.

World hunger is only an extant problem because of 'conservative' ignorance/hatred/fear.

We have the technology --should we choose to allocate the resources-- to feed the world many times over. This won't happen as long as John Q. Conservative insists on sucking meat three times a day.

Skootard reminds us why Conservatives will soon be an endangered species that will not be placed on the protected list.

@lengould100: Thanks for taking the time to post that information.

While it may be possible to throw enough water and plant "food" at a (farm) crop necessary to double the production rate, there is only so much sunlight that will hit a given area - hence the crop spacing requirement.

What we have is AFD (Anthropogenic Forest Decimation), brought to you by the US environmentalists. What we are witnessing (via the bark beetle) is Mother Nature rectifying AFD.

It took the enviro-nazis 60 years or so to create the problem - it may take Mother Nature 100 years or more to fix it.

I stand by my original statement: this article is bulls**t.

I'm a proud AFD denier. Crucify me on a hockey stick.