CLIMATE CHANGE, FOREST FIRES & BUG INFESTATIONS

There is an excellent article in yesterday's Waterloo Region Record titled "The changing nature of forest fires, bugs, climate bite". Apparently climate change is responsible for both invasive insect populations spreading as well as local insects expanding their range. Therefore whether we are talking about the domestic mountain pine beetle both in the east and the west (BC) or the emerald ash borer for example in Ontario, climate change and accompanying warming is helping them spread into habitats that once were considered too cold for them. Climate change can result in both drier and wetter weather patterns. The wetter weather can promote fungi as well as make certain diseases in trees worse. Drier weather combined with insects that kill trees eventually make both the dead trees much drier as well as the underbrush and when exposed to fire they burn faster and hotter.

Parts of British Columbia are already facing major cutbacks in lumber production due to the mountain pine beetle which is on the rise in the warmer and drier conditions. The forest industry are facing possibly permanent cutbacks in employment and production as a result. While some may not shed tears over less tree removal the issue is also that more trees are dying from heat, dehydration and insect stresses that they are experiencing. As the article states " Trees can endure wide fluctuations of weather, he noted, but their health can change suddenly once critical thresholds like moisture balances are tipped. "Everything looks fine until it's not.""

On a related note Vancouver is now experiencing days to weeks of smoke filled air during late August and September due to forest fires hundreds of miles away. This is becoming a health hazard for either elderly or vulnerable urban human populations as well. This I have been advised of by a local relative in Vancouver.