Extreme cold snaps in northern Alberta this past winter may have delivered a crucial blow the armies of pine beetle infecting millions of trees in the province, experts said Friday.
CTV News was given a sneak peak at some of the province's hardest hit areas near Grande Cache Thursday, in the area where officials said they hope the mountain pine beetle losses are the greatest.
Last year, more than three-million trees were infected across Alberta.
Forestry officials said they are optimistic Mother Nature helped them out with temperatures cold enough -- and long enough -- to seriously put a dent in the mountain pine beetle population.
Experts said temperatures must reach -40C for at least 12 consecutive hours to affect the bug.
Duncan MacDonnell, from Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, said they hope the frigid winter temperatures killed as much as 99 per cent of the population.
"Even if those beetle numbers get down there are still going to be some of them in the forest and we don't want to leave them there because they can expand exponentially and before you know it you have an even larger problem on your hands," he said.
The danger lies in how many larvae survived the winter.
Surveyor Aaron Townsend said he wouldn't be surprised to see a number of trees turn red and die in the next year.
"(The beetles) are the best at surviving the winter," he said.
Six-million hectares of pine, or about 15 per cent of Alberta's forest, is labelled as at risk this year.
Pine beetle prevention specialist Erica Lee said the battle cannot be won without some help from the weather.
"We are going to have to continue patrolling trees out here and hope for some help from mother nature," she said.
