Entomology > MPB Home > Historical Activity

Historical Mountain Pine Beetle Activity

Steve Taylor and Bob Erickson

Section of a lodgepole pine tree cut in the Chilcotin District in 2001 showing scars from mountain pine beetle outbreaks in the 1980s and 1930s.

Mountain pine beetle (MPB) has been present in British Columbia's forests for millenia. Foresters have recorded MPB outbreaks in some parts of BC since 1910. However, evidence of MPB activity going back hundreds of years is found in scars on lodgepole pine trees.

The CFS Forest Insect and Disease Survey (FIDS) carried out annual province-wide aerial overview surveys of mountain pine beetle outbreaks between 1959 and 1996. Infestations and detected damage were mapped and summarized each year and the data archived at PFC.

FIDS survey data for BC and the Yukon is available from CFS – PFC for 50 forest pests in ArcInfo and ArcView GIS formats on the PFC Pest Data Archives web site . This historical data is a vital resource for computer models that predict forest pest behaviour and for our understanding of outbreak dynamics.

The PFC Forest Health group is continuing to conduct annual aerial surveys of forest pests in the mountain National Parks, Kluane National Park and DND properties.

The BC Ministry of Forests has carried out annual overview Forest health surveys since 1998. Compilations of these maps as well as the FIDs maps can be viewed on the web site: http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/FORSITE/overview/webmap.htm.

Because the province-wide maps were compiled from regional maps made by different surveyors at different times they may either under or over-estimate the extent of infestations at specific places and times but provide a good general overview.

The overview survey maps were animated to show the areas infested by MPB in each year in red.

The infested areas include all stands where lodgepole pine was detected across all severity classes. Not all lodgepole pine in infested areas were killed and infested areas may contain other non-susceptible tree species.

Aerial and ground views of a MPB infestation in southeastern BC in 1980 (left) the same area in 1985 (right) Not all lodgepole pine in infested stands are always killed and infested stands may contain other non-susceptible tree species.

The animation shows the annual variation in infested area, the rapid expansion of infestations during outbreak conditions, and the distribution of infested areas across British Columbia. Note also that infestations may arise independently from spatially separated endemic populations - they do not necessarily spread from a single source.

View Animation:

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Acknowledgements:

1959-1996 outbreak maps - CFS Forest Insect and Disease Survey;

1998-2002 outbreak maps - BC Ministry of Forests;

Pine cover types - BC Ministry of Forests 1994 Forest, Range, and Recreation Resource Analysis;

Digital elevation data - US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Geophysical Data Centre.

Funding for digitizing and animation provided by Forest Renewal BC and the Forest Investment and Innovation Fund - Project RO-2-28