According to a researcher at the University of Alberta, the frigid temperatures the province has been experiencing is helping kill off the pest that's been ravaging forests.

The chamber president says the pine beetle will have a clear path to spread across the rest of Canada if it breaches the forests that border Alberta and Saskatchewan.

The mountain pine beetle outbreak which has killed thousands of trees in Jasper National Park is moving east into Alberta's commercial forests, and researchers blame Parks staff for not doing enough to stop the spread.