The next three years could be crucial in Alberta's battle against the mountain pine beetle.
That's the word from Alberta Forestry Officials who toured the infested area Thursday from Kananaskis to Yoho Park. They say British Columbia has already lost the fight.
From high above in a helicopter overlooking the great divide, huge stretches of dead forest can be seen.
To try and prevent the beetle from spreading into Alberta, the province has come up with a three prong approach. The first stage is to cut individually infested trees and burn them on site.
The second stage is prescribed burns, and the third element is clear cut logging.
Prescribed burns and logging do not kill the mountain pine beetle but they remove the forest where the bug lives. The minister in charge of forestry says the approach is working.
"You can see the progression from Alberta into Banff National Park and into BC, and the combination of the westerly prevailing winds and also the intensity of what's happened in BC. The good news is it only comes in through the valley and it can't come over the peaks so if we can stop it in the valleys, then we can keep it from getting into Alberta's eastern slopes." says Ted Morton, Minister of Sustainable Research Development.
The province plans to expand the prescribed burn program this year by burning another 12 hundred hectares in the Spray Valley. It also plans to start controlled fires in three more areas along the eastern slopes.
