GRANDE PRAIRE, Alta. – Bill Finch owns a piece of paradise in northern Alberta.
His 320 acres on the edge of Grande Prairie are covered with towering pine, birch, and a few poplars and spruce.
For the past three years Finch and other landowners have fought the mountain pine beetle in an effort to protect their paradise.
Last year, Finch cut down 60 infested trees from his land. This year he will cut down another 172.
“It’s made a real impact on our lives,” said Finch, who uses his Belgian horses to skid the logs from his land. He burns the trees in the field or drags them back to the yard to heat his horse barn, depending on the variety.
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Finch hopes monitoring will slow the spread of the beetles and save some of his trees. He and other members of the Peace Draft Horse Club spent several days recently cutting down and cleaning out infected trees in the area.
Brian Reid, a contractor with the South Peace Municipalities Mountain Pine Beetle Project, estimates 100,000 trees have been logged in the past three years in an attempt to control the mountain pine beetle and protect the northern pine forests.
Dave McNolty of Grande Prairie was contracted by the project this year to log the sensitive areas with his horses.
About 85,000 trees are on public land and 15,000 trees have been cut on private land. Logs cut from crown land are salvaged and sold as saw logs to local forest companies, chipped into two inch pieces or burned to prevent the spread of the beetles.
