Somebody is scaremongering here. The scientific debate confuses many people. Janet Lee Schaffner, a park visitor for more than two decades, came away from a CFIA-sponsored information session on Thursday unconvinced that the trees need to come down. You also can't help but wonder if this is being done because industry is involved. Of course, foreign pests aren't the only threat to North American forests.
Native insects cause plenty of destruction.
In the case of the brown spruce longhorn beetle, Mr. Cunningham said, the only real option is to remove the diseased trees and burn them before the pest spreads. First, the trees will be cut and debarked, with the infested parts burned and the clean slabs sold for lumber. There is also a suggestion to drown some of the beetles by soaking logs in Halifax Harbour. The relatively healthy trees that are left would remain as food for the beetles, which are basically lazy and will stay where there is a supply of food. Eventually, all infested trees would be cut and, according to the plan, the beetle would be eliminated.