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| | The Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic has now decimated over 400 million cubic metres of merchantable timber in British Columbia's forests. While this epidemic has led to short-term increases in harvest levels, many forestry communities need new long-term opportunities to sustain their way of life. Geoscience BC's Mountain Pine Beetle Initiative is dedicated to helping these affected communities diversify and strengthen their economies. Three of Geoscience BC's Projects in the MPB Area have received significant funding from the Northern Development Initiative Trust Mountain Pine Beetle Recovery Account:
Providing new, high quality, up-to-date geoscience information has been shown to attract exploration industry interest and investment. Geoscience BC's MPB Initiative projects are designed to increase exploration interest and investment through providing industry with the information they need to focus their activities and investments in the prospective areas. Their activities will in turn have a positive economic impact on nearby communities as the industry looks for supplies and services in the region. Follow-up exploration by industry is required to make new discoveries and identify economic deposits that can be developed into mines and provide long-term benefits to the region. Geoscience BC is working hard to provide information to the people of central BC about the area's resource potential and what communities and governments can do in partnership to increase exploration activities in their region. Geoscience BC's MPB Initiative is building a strong foundation of partnerships as it seeks to enhance the sustainability of the province's MPB-impacted communities. "New Insights in Cordilleran Intermontane Geoscience: Reducing Exploration Risk in the Mountain Pine Beetle-Affected Area of British Columbia" The June 2011 issue of Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences is a Special Issue which presents a summary of geoscience research and investigations arising from multi-agency funding designed to address the negative economic impacts of the current mountain pine beetle infestation. Recognizing the important role that mining and petroleum exploration could play in diversifying these local economies, federal, provincial, and not-for-profit agencies designed a program of research funding to address gaps in the local geoscience knowledge base and to stimulate industry exploration in the region. Funding agencies also initiated a dialogue with local First Nations communities to share information and concerns about resource development issues. The Geoscience for Mountain Pine Beetle programs were cooperatively led by Geological Survey of Canada, Geoscience BC, and the British Columbia Ministry of Energy and Mines, each drawing on their area of experience and expertise. Geoscience program components included using geophysics to see through the locally extensive cover of volcanic and glacial deposits, as well as augmenting the existing regional geoscience knowledge base with new baseline geology, mineral deposits, and geochemistry data. Most of these maps, databases, and reports are now available free of charge from agency web sites. The Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences Special Issue contains 14 papers by 41 authors which synthesize a wide array of these geoscience data to produce new models of surface geology and crustal structure which will enhance base-metal and petroleum exploration efforts in central British Columbia and elsewhere. This Special Issue can be found at: http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/toc/cjes/48/6. 
The Mountain Pine Beetle Salvage Area, which represents the extent of BC affected by the Mountain Pine Beetle. Eligible individuals, corporations and partnerships conducting grassroots mining exploration in this area of BC are eligible for a 30% tax credit on eligible exploration expenditures. | |   |
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| Phone: 604-662-4147 Fax: 604-662-4107 Email: | |
