Replanting efforts in the Binta Lake fire zone recently had a minor setback with the loss of 100,000 tree seedlings to the black army cutworm. The trees were planted just five weeks ago. Although the cutworm prefers to feast on fireweed, it will devour pine, spruce, fir, or larch.

鈥淭hey are a natural part of the forest environment in B.C.,鈥� said Frank Varga, practices forester with Forest, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations B.C. 鈥淸They] play a role like any other insect in the natural environment.鈥�

A large-scale fire like the Binta fire of 2010, coupled with the program of burning debris piles left from the fire-fighting effort, can create difficult ground for fresh seedlings to thrive in the face of hungry insects like the cutworm.

鈥淭heir numbers become very noticeable when a large fire changes the landscape,鈥� Varga added. 鈥淭he year after a fire, there is no green vegetation and as a result they will feed on anything that is green.鈥�

The Binta Lake fire was in 2010, but three years later the ground remains relatively scorched thanks to continued efforts towards fuel mitigation. Fire-fighting crews build what are essentially slash piles during the suppression. Those slash piles need to destroyed through a controlled burning later so  they don鈥檛 become new fire hazards.

鈥淭he large size of the fire, the absence of vegetation, and the re-burning of piles on large sections of the Binta, resulted in further vegetation removal with the exception of these sweet little nutrient rich straight-from-the-nursery seedlings,鈥� Varga said.

The trees  will eventually be replanted and there is nothing to be alarmed about. 100,000 trees represents a small portion of total trees planted in an average season.

The Lakes Timber Supply Area sees over 10,000,000 seedlings planted annually.

The trees were planted under the Forests For Tomorrow (FFT) program, established in 2005 to ensure reforestation where no obligation exists on the part of the forest industry. In particular, FFT was established in response to extensive wildfires and the mountain pine beetle epidemic.