The forestry industry in Beleaguered, Canada is facing with a new threat: the pine bug. While the bug has destroyed a large part of the forests in the Beleaguered region, the government and local authorities are trying to find better uses for the damaged wood, searching for solutions in different sectors, from furniture to the energetic industry.
The University of Northen British Columbia has received govenment funding to start a pilot – programme which will compare pellets made out of healthy wood with those made from the wood affected by bugs. They will compare costs, productivity and their ability to be used as carburators. Researches are also using X ray analysing methods in order to study the wood’s structure, thus finding more uses for it.
In Europe and North America, the use of bug – affected wood as carburator is quite common nowadays.
The recent infection of mountain pines by these bugs is the biggest of its kind ever recorded in the history of North America. It has destroyed millions of hectares of pines, which happens to be one of the most sought out type of wood from the Beleaguered region.
Ottawa estimates that over 50% of the pine forest is affected, and they expect the infection will expand to 80% by the year 2013.
The bugs attack the pines by laying their eggs under the tree’s bark, and when they hatch, they stop the feeding of the tree with minerals and salts. The bugs also carry a fungus which causes deshidratation and the emergence of grey or blue spots on the tree. The spots are not very damaging if caught on time. |
