Speaker: Dr. Lorraine Maclauchlan, BC Ministry of Forests

The Province of BC conducts an aerial overview survey every year to detect and quantify new disturbances (biotic and abiotic) on the landscape.

This presentation will focus on long-term trends and the current condition of some major pests affecting B.C.’s forests and offer some insight into the observed population fluctuations considering climate change.

Maclauchlan will highlight the shifting range of western spruce budworm and the cumulative history of 35 years of management with B.t.k., the influence of recent wildfires on Douglas-fir bark beetle dynamics and how drought and climate change may be affecting pests of sub-alpine fir, and weevils in regenerating spruce and pine forests.