I'm an activist

Nobody commented on the orange flagging tape on my trees in my backyard (in my recent yard shots), but I thought that I would explain it anyhow, because it makes for a story to blog about...

As some of you might know (or suspect), I'm pretty strong-minded when it comes to some things. I'm a big fan of cleaning up the environment (however, I can't seem to get my act together to use only cloth diapers?) and I like to protect those things that I love.

Well, in my neighbourhood, we've had an epidemic of Mountain Pine Beetle - a nasty little bug that chews up and kills pine trees, specifically the kind that I have seven of in my yard. Just for interest, it would probably cost me about $3500 or more to remove the trees from our yard, were they to be hit by the little suckers, or should I say... chewers. As of yesterday, my trees are still pine beetle free, but as the weather warms, the threat of them being selected as the "next paradise" increases. In order to prevent my trees from having to be removed, and leaving me with a bare yard... I figured I needed to do something about it. Here are the options: 1) remove trees (uhhh no) 2) spray trees with pesticide (kills all bugs to land on it and costs about $90 per tree x 7 = $30, uhh no) 3) pay for someone to put a natural pesticide on my trees that will make the bugs think the tree is "full - no room at the Inn" and fly away... only $26 per treee (but low results when taken on alone...) So, yuu can probably guess what I did! Verbanone is a pheromone (chemical) that we can imitate in the lab, that the pine beetles naturally produce when they have occupied an area and there are no resources left for other bugs. They send off a chemical signal that tells the other bugs (*flying after) to find a new home. The company we are working with will be applying this chemical, in the form of a little pack, onto the trees in the near future. As the results are lower when attempted alone, I dsecided to get my neighbourhood on board...

I wrote up a little letter explaining the options and why this is a good one. I discussed how it will work better if we all cooperate and support the initiative, etc, etc. Well, I have fourteen neighbours on board. We are going to work together to save 52 trees in our yards and the area near our yards. Here's hoping that we beat the bugs!