Western Pine Beetle

Last week the Regional District invited elected officials on a tour of regional parks - including some that they hope to add to the inventory! This was a very informative tour and I feel like I have a much better grasp of the "big picture" with our regional parks system.
One of the stops we made was at Mission Creek Regional Park to view the areas that have been affected by the Western Pine Beetle. Parks staff have removed about 2250 Ponderosa Pine trees in certain areas to contain the spread of the beetle. The only way to really get rid of the beetles is to burn the bark of the trees. The bark and limbs were disposed of by burning with an air curtain burner - this minimized the smoke. Any wood that could be salvaged for use has been.
Parks staff have also set traps (see photo below). These traps contain an attraction pheromone which draws the beetles away from the trees and into the trap. This works really well in conjunction with the neighbouring homes which are using verbenone, which acts as a repellant. Verbenone basically signals to the beetle that the tree is already full of beetles. The beetles then fly to the traps instead! The beetles caught in the traps are frozen to kill them (if they haven't been eaten by larger bugs first!).

A bit of Ponderosa Pine trivia - to identify a Ponderosa Pine with your eyes closed, take a deep sniff! The bark of the Ponderosa Pine in the summer smells like vanilla ice cream - mmmmm!
For more information on the Western Pine Beetle, please visit the City of Kelowna's Pine Beetle Page