Spruce budworm outbreak could increase forest fire risk in Quebec - Action News
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Spruce budworm outbreak could increase forest fire risk in Quebec

A spruce budworm outbreak in Quebec could kill off an area of trees the size of New Brunswick in the next few years and leave the trees fuel for forest fires, according to Natural Resources Canada.

Dead and damaged trees left in the spruce budworm's wake linked to forest fires

The spruce budworm spread to 63,000 square kilometres of trees in 2015. (Natural Resources Canada)

A spruce budworm outbreakin Quebec couldkill off trees spanning an area the size of New Brunswick in the next few years and fuel more forest fires, according to Natural Resources Canada.

YanBoulanger, a research scientist with the Laurentian Forestry Centre, said the impact of the budworm is most severe on Quebec's North Shore, followed by theSaguenay-Lac-Saint-Jeanand Gaspesie regions.

He added that the budwormhas also been seen inNew Brunswick.

"That's the fear, that it will spread to New Brunswick and the Acadian forest,"Boulanger said.

According to forest insect ecologist, Dr. Deepa Pureswaran, a spruce budworm outbreak will eat away at the tops of trees and make them turn brown in about three years, killing the tree in five.

"The larvae feed on the current year's needles so the trees don't get to grow that year. Defoliation over several years kills the tree," Pureswaran said.

Outbreaks happen about every thirty years with the last one peaking in 1975, according to Pureswaran.

Boulangersaid that global warming has made the climate "more favourable than in the '70s" for the budworm in areas that are further north than where it normally feeds.

In 2015 more than 63,000square kilometres were affected by the spruce budworm.

New uses for dead wood

Yan Boulanger said the big fear for researchers is that the spruce budworm will spread to the Acadian forest. (Radio-Canada)

According to Natural Resources Canada, the dead and damaged trees left in the budworm's wake are more susceptible to forest fires and the forestry industry can't use the impacted wood.

It's led researchers in Quebec to suggest ways this wood can be used.

According to velyne Thiffault, an assistant professor with the department of wood sciences and forestry at the University of Laval, the impacted wood has different chemical properties because of the mushrooms which grow on it.

Laval assistant professor velyne Thiffault says trees damaged by the budworm could be used for bioenergy and biofuels, among other things. (Radio-Canada)

"The mushrooms decompose certain elements of the wood and concentrate others," Thiffault told Radio-Canada.

"In changing the wood's pH, it becomes valuable for emerging industries like bioenergy, biofuels, bioethanol, biodiesel or even new products such as polymers which could replace plastic."