Urban Forest Treatment Program - 2010
The District of Sparwood will be removing 750 hazard trees on municipal property from February 8 through to April 30, 2010. The objectives of these treatments are to reduce the risk of hazardous trees to public safety and to remove Mountain Pine Beetle infested trees to reduce the spread of this disease within the District of Sparwood.
The public is invited to view these plans at an open house on February 1, 2010 from 6-8pm at the Sparwood Leisure Centre.
Site visits are also planned for Saturday February 6 at 10:00am. Interested residents should meet at the Sparwood Leisure Complex at 10 am, and the site visits will proceed from there.
Ongoing displays complete with mapping and treatment details will be set up in the Sparwood Leisure Complex lobby beginning January 28, 2010.
Click here to go to maps showing areas to be treated
Click here for information about the Mountain Pine Beetle
Click here to view Sparwood’s Wildfire Interface Protection Strategy
Excellent information on the beetle and the Provincial Action Plan is available from the Ministry of Forests.
What is the Mountain Pine Beetle?
Mountain pine beetles are small (3-4 mm [3/16"+-] long), cylindrical insects that attack and kill mature trees by boring through the bark and mining the phloem - the layer between the bark and wood of a tree. These insects inhabit Pine forests throughout British Columbia. Like forest fires, bark beetles play an important role in the natural life cycle of a forest. British Columbia is currently experiencing a mountain pine beetle epidemic throughout the range of lodgepole pine forests in the province. This epidemic is the result of a number of factors including natural beetle population cycles, continuous mild winters, and an abundance of uniformly mature pine forests.
How is the District affected?
A forest health walk-through survey was completed on forested lands within the District of Sparwood starting in 2003. Few forest health factors were detected with the exception of mountain pine beetle. Although found at relatively low levels, its distribution was widespread. Mountain pine beetle (MPB) population indictors, expressed as a ratio of trees with current attacks versus those with old attacks show that beetle populations are on the increase. This is consistent with other areas within the Elk Valley and the Cranbrook Forest District in general. The lodgepole pine within the district is particularly susceptible to damage from the mountain pine beetle due to its age, size and density. It is expected that increasing levels of mortality from the mountain pine beetle will occur in lodgepole pine over the next 5-10 years. In areas such as the District of Sparwood, the ratio in no longer a good indicator, except in the initial report as the majority of infested trees are removed before they turn red.
The study and related information may be inspected at the Municipal Office, (Box 520, V0B-2G0) 136 Spruce Avenue Sparwood, B.C., during regular office hours (8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. local time) Monday to Friday excepting Statutory Holidays. Additional information may be obtained by contacting the Technical Planning Coordinator at the Municipal Hall (250) 425-6271. A copy of the Study is also available at the Sparwood Public Library. You can download the report by clicking on the links below.
Wildfire Protection Plan:
In 2006, the District of Sparwood commissioned the creation of a Community Wildfire Protection Plan to identify the levels of wildfire risk in wooded areas or "polygons" within the community. Five polygons were considered high hazard risk and two of those are on private property. Professional foresters were brought in to recommend treatment procedures to reduce the risk of wildfire and assess mountain pine beetle while maintaining forest cover. There will be pruning in all stands, which means removal of the lower "ladder" branches, as well as underbrush and surface cleanup.
The maps show several types of treatment: Danger Trees, Green Attack Trees and Red Attack Trees.
- Danger trees are deemed hazardous due to their potential to fall.
- Green Attack trees are trees where mountain pine beetle is currently infested.
- Red Attack trees are trees that were infested by the beetle but are no longerpresent.
Index Map (click on the area you would like to zoom into)
Information on the 2009 Treatment Areas