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The mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae, is a small insect, less than a centimetre long, which lives most of its life under the bark of pine trees, including lodgepole, ponderosa and western white pine.

Normally these insects play an important role in the life of a forest. They attack old or weakened trees, speeding the development of a younger forest. However, unusual hot, dry summers and mild winters in central British Columbia during the last few years, along with forests filled with mature lodgepole pine, have lead to an epidemic. To date, beetles have destroyed millions of lodgepole pine in BC – the province’s most commercially harvested tree.