Beetle-eaten forests belch carbon gas emissions

[GliderGuider]

http://www.businessedge.ca/article.cfm/newsID/17794.cfm

British Columbia's pine beetle-devastated forest is belching out enough carbon to equal Canada's average annual forest fire emissions, says a new report from scientists at the Ministry of Natural Resources Canada.

The study, released last week, calculates it will be much harder for Canada to meet global efforts to reduce GHGs when a huge section of B.C. forests is producing carbon dioxide.

Kurz, a senior research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service of Natural Resources Canada, has been working on the equation of carbon input and output of Canada's forests since 1989.

"For the first time we are able to isolate the impact of the beetle by creating the model infrastructure that allows us to represent the landscape with and without the beetle," Kurz said.

Approximately 13.5 million hectares of lodgepole pine in the province have been infested - an area more than four times the size of Vancouver Island.British Columbia's pine beetle-devastated forest is belching out enough carbon to equal Canada's average annual forest fire emissions, says a new report from scientists at the Ministry of Natural Resources Canada.

[NickB79]

1. When wildfires begin to ravage those dying forests, the CO2 emissions will be massive. NT