EDMONTON – The province is allocating $190 million in emergency funding to fight wildfires and attack mountain pine beetle infestations in Alberta forests, the government announced Thursday.
The majority of the funding – $150 million – will be to fight wildfires. The cost of fighting fires across the province is covered through emergency funding because of the unpredictable nature of wildfire seasons, the province said in a new release.
The remaining $40 million will be used to combat pine beetle infestations, with 75 per cent of the funding used for survey and field work. About $10 million will be used to reforest areas ravaged by infestations.
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“Directing funds to these areas helps protect values important to all Albertans – the safety of people and the health of our natural environment,” Environment and Sustainable Resource Development Minister Diana McQueen said in the release.
The province says without intervention, a pine beetle infestation threatening Alberta’s pine forests could potentially result in an economic loss of $420 million to $600 million per year. Infestations also leave forests vulnerable to wildfire because the beetles kill the trees.
“It is essential that we continue this fight in order to protect not just trees, but also watersheds, fish and wildlife habitat, recreation opportunities and community sustainability,” McQueen said.
Since 2004, the province had spent nearly $300 million on combating the mountain pine beetle, with one million infested trees removed to date. The federal government has promised an additional $18 million for the program, while the Saskatchewan government has committed $150,000.
The funding for fighting wildfires is on top of the department’s 2012 budget of $110 million set for firefighting. The province spent about $250 million fighting wildfires in 2011, in addition to the department’s base firefighting budget of $106 million. The May 2011 Slave Lake wildfire – which was later ruled arson – was deemed the country’s second-costliest insured disaster, with damages pegged at $700 million. One-third of the town was destroyed.
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