In an ongoing effort to manage Saskatchewan’s mountain pine beetle infestation, a company has been fined for illegally importing pine logs from Sundre.
A Maple Creek, Sask. firewood, logging and sawmilling operation was fined just over $9,700 earlier this year after illegally importing pine logs from Alberta, the Saskatchewan government said in a news release issued Tuesday.
A minister’s order has been in place in Saskatchewan since 2008 prohibiting the import of pine logs with bark from jurisdictions with established mountain pine beetle population without written authority.
The movement of wood with bark is one of the main ways that forest pests, including mountain pine beetle, are spread.
“The investigation began when a caller to the Turn In Poachers and Polluters (TIPP) line reported that Landrider Trux Ltd. was bringing pine logs from Sundre, Alberta, to their property near Maple Creek without authorization,” the Saskatchewan government’s Aug. 27 release said.
While visiting the business in May 2023, the Saskatchewan government said a conservation officer identified and seized two piles of logs on the property.
Further investigation by the Ministry of Environment's Forest Service Branch confirmed the wood's origin, the release said, and the pine logs with bark were burned.
“The mountain pine beetle has killed large swaths of forest in B.C. and Alberta, and is also established in the Cypress Hills area, putting all of Saskatchewan's pine forests at significant risk,” the Saskatchewan government said.
The minister's order prohibits pine logs with bark being imported into Saskatchewan from B.C., Alberta and the U.S., and their movement out of the Cypress Hills area into other areas of Saskatchewan.
