Sask. ups funding to help Alberta stop mountain pine beetle spread

Saskatchewan is spending $800,000 to battle a pest that has ravaged British Columbia and parts of Alberta.

Part of the money includes $450,000 Saskatchewan will pay Alberta to help stop the eastward spread of the mountain pine beetle through boreal forests.

The effort to detect and remove infested trees will focus on northeast Alberta and areas near the provincial boundary.

This money is on top of $150,000 Saskatchewan announced last December to help Alberta fight the beetle.

Saskatchewan is also spending $350,000 to have Great Western Forestry Ltd. survey forests in the province’s northwest and in the Cypress Hills and to mark infested trees for removal.

Scientists fear if the beetles continue spreading east, they could jump to jack pine trees and gradually spread across Canada through the boreal forest.