12-3 IAN Beetles and Water
Taking pine beetles seriously…make that very seriously.
We in the ag community may not feel we are directly affected by what’s going on in high mountainous regions in the Northwest but there is a growing threat to our water supplies due to the presence of mountain pine beetles that aree decimating Rocky Mountain forests. New research shows the pests are making changes to the water supply and soil, too. Dr. Stephen Cook , a professor of Entomology at the University of Idaho elaborates on the problem. “As we lose large tracts of lodge pole pine, you get less water retention on the slopes, so you have more water that goes into streams along with additional erosion that occurs with that so it has a lot of potential to change the hydrology of mountainous areas. In British Columbia the environment is changing because of altered conditions.”
