Beetle Kill and Flooding
Potentially devastating flooding in B.C. is being exacerbated by the provincial government’s policy to promote clear-cut logging for large-scale salvage in forests infested by the mountain pine beetle, the Sierra Club BC said today.
“We need to stop our gold rush approach to logging forests damaged by the mountain pine beetle,” said Sierra Club BC Forestry Specialist Rob Duncan. “The beetle infestation is causing radical shifts in hydrology and clear-cutting is making the problem worse.”
In March of this year, a B.C. Forest Practices Board report warned that logging in beetle-attacked watersheds could result in a 30 percent increase in peak flow volume during spring runoffs compared with leaving those stands un-logged.
“The dramatic increase in salvage logging, combined with higher than average snowpacks, is resulting in faster run-offs,” said Duncan. “Flooding will be an escalating problem downstream of beetle-attacked watersheds as long as clear-cutting continues.”
A 2007 report by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that extreme climatic events like flooding will increase in frequency and intensity this century due to global warming.
Forests attacked by the beetle, like those in the upper Fraser watershed and Bulkley Valley, have larger snow packs at least in part because there are fewer pine needles to intercept falling snow. The lack of forest canopy also means that direct sunlight melts snowpack faster when we get the record-breaking warm temperatures B.C. has seen lately. Vast areas of clearcuts also allow much faster run-off, creating a predictable recipe for disastrous flooding and landslides.
“We are part of an interconnected system that is starting to fail,” said Sierra Club BC Campaigns Director Lisa Matthaus. “The Forest Practices Board, B.C.’s Chief Forester and many others know that we must reduce logging and change our forest management practices to help maintain the resilience of our forests in the face of climate change. Continuing with business as usual is equivalent to just standing by while rising waters threaten B.C. communities and farmland.”
Among other warnings, the Forest Practices Board report pointed out that flooding will occur every three to four years – instead of once every 20 years on average – in watersheds subject to current logging practices and heavy mountain pine beetle infestation.
The March Forest Practices Board report is available at www.fpb.gov.bc.ca. Also see the Sierra Club BC’s March 19, 2007, press release at http://www.sierraclub.ca/bc/media/releases.shtml
“We need to stop our gold rush approach to logging forests damaged by the mountain pine beetle,” said Sierra Club BC Forestry Specialist Rob Duncan. “The beetle infestation is causing radical shifts in hydrology and clear-cutting is making the problem worse.”
In March of this year, a B.C. Forest Practices Board report warned that logging in beetle-attacked watersheds could result in a 30 percent increase in peak flow volume during spring runoffs compared with leaving those stands un-logged.
“The dramatic increase in salvage logging, combined with higher than average snowpacks, is resulting in faster run-offs,” said Duncan. “Flooding will be an escalating problem downstream of beetle-attacked watersheds as long as clear-cutting continues.”
A 2007 report by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that extreme climatic events like flooding will increase in frequency and intensity this century due to global warming.
Forests attacked by the beetle, like those in the upper Fraser watershed and Bulkley Valley, have larger snow packs at least in part because there are fewer pine needles to intercept falling snow. The lack of forest canopy also means that direct sunlight melts snowpack faster when we get the record-breaking warm temperatures B.C. has seen lately. Vast areas of clearcuts also allow much faster run-off, creating a predictable recipe for disastrous flooding and landslides.
“We are part of an interconnected system that is starting to fail,” said Sierra Club BC Campaigns Director Lisa Matthaus. “The Forest Practices Board, B.C.’s Chief Forester and many others know that we must reduce logging and change our forest management practices to help maintain the resilience of our forests in the face of climate change. Continuing with business as usual is equivalent to just standing by while rising waters threaten B.C. communities and farmland.”
Among other warnings, the Forest Practices Board report pointed out that flooding will occur every three to four years – instead of once every 20 years on average – in watersheds subject to current logging practices and heavy mountain pine beetle infestation.
The March Forest Practices Board report is available at www.fpb.gov.bc.ca. Also see the Sierra Club BC’s March 19, 2007, press release at http://www.sierraclub.ca/bc/media/releases.shtml
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