Funding Boost for Battle Against Pine Beetle

The government is increasing funding to the mountain pine beetle management program to $30 million annually for the next four years. The extra funding will increase the mountain pine beetle management program’s annual budget from $25 million to $30 million through 2022-2023. The money will go towards additional ground survey and control work on more than 83,000 hectares. The Alberta Chambers of Commerce has been advocating for direct control efforts, planning and ecosystem management for many years and last year the Canadian Chamber advocated to the federal government to reinstate the Federal Mountain Pine Beetle Program and provide the Alberta Government with $100 million dollars to support the Province's pine beetle mitigation strategies.