Shames Mountain ready for action With the authorization last week of about $.5 million in joint federal-provincial govern- ment low interest loan money, Shames Mountain Ski Corpora- tion board member Gerry Mar- tin says activity will begin soon in the effort to get the ski resort west of Terrace ready for the coming winter. Martin stated Monday that the company still has to sign the loan agreement and agree to the terms, after which the money will be paid out to them on a reimbusement basis for €¢x- penses. Martin said that although the locally-owned group would like to see the project finished and open for business during the coming ski season, it’s not a sure thing for this winter. ‘‘Every- thing will have to mesh together beautifully,’? he said, pointing out that unexpected circum- stances like rock formations that require extensive blasting during road construction, or an early Local An extremely persistent little bug is threatening the quality of spruce trees in our area, but if a local experiment has positive results, an even smaller parasitic insect may mean the spruce leader weevil has finally met its match. The weevil, also known as P. strobi, has a long, curved snout, brown or gray scales, and ridg- ed, roughened wing covers, and it loves to eat young spruce trees in local forests. The adults, which can live and reproduce for up to four years, overwinter at the base of their host spruce trees. When it warms up to about six degrees celsius, they crawl to the top and start eating the leaders, or top branches, of the previous years’ growth. When temperatures reach 25 degrees mating starts, with up to 245 eggs per pair deposited into the leaders. The developing larvae and pupae continue munching throughout the summer, emerging as adults in late August and early September. The weevils’ activity “‘kills the terminal leaders of young spruce trees ranging in height from one metre to 15 metres, and occa- sionally over 25 metres, forcing the lateral branches to compete for dominance. This situation results in multiple or crooked stems and height loss ,’’ a 1983 B.C. Ministry of Forestry study reports. This drastic reduction in quality means such trees won't be merchantable, Joe Katason- off of the Terrace Forestry of- fice says. The little bugs, about 5 mm in length, have proved themselves to be tougher than almost any pest control method people can dream up. The problematic wee- vil was first described in 1817 by a Harvard University botanist, and the search for an effective pesticide has been actively pur- sued for over 35 years. Chemical control methods to date have met with limited success, as the winter, could delay completion. ‘*We're going to try our best,’ he said. Tenders for the construction of the access road are expected to go out in about two weeks. The project requires upgrading of nine kilometers of existing road and the construction of four kilometers of new road. Assessment of the bids will probably take about three weeks, and the construction is expected to take three months. ‘We'll. feel good if it (construc- tion) gets started in September,”’ Martin remarked. Company manager Dennis Lissimore said the dismantling and removal of equipment on Kitsumkalum Mountain, to be used at the new resort, will begin in about two weeks. The larger pieces, such as lift towers, will be taken out by helicopter and refurbished and stored in Westar’s old West Kalum Shops west of town. Terrace Review — Wednesday, July 13, 1988 3 Elght Terrace students left Sunday for a two designed to strengthen our relationship w -week tour named tour is a program developed by School District 88 with Ministry of Education funding and Is “China in the Elghties”. The ith the Far East. Pictured above as they were preparing to leave Terrace Sunday afternoon are (back row) Clayton Tait, Dallce Kelln, chaperon Elizabeth Metzmeler, Echo Shrum, Gina Jaarsma and (front row) Tina Thomas, Dean Wirth and Michelle Michaud. They were joined in Vancouver by three Queen Charlotte Island students also going on the tour — Fred Hawrshaw, and their chaperon Kathy Powell. Tony Jenson, Brian Gladstone — foresters fighting pests with pests weevils axe only out and about for a short time during spring feeding and mating. Silviculture methods of con- trol were promising when first tried in 1967. A long-term ex- periment had spruce growing in low light conditions, under shading hardwood, to dis- courage the sun-loving weevils. But while weevil attack was sup- pressed, so was tree growth. Genetic selection to breed weevil-resistant spruce has been thwarted by the bugs’ random selection of host trees: any spruce free of infestation may just be lucky. Selective breeding is a long-term solution, but as the number of brush-free, ten- year-old spruce stands is increas- ing, so is the weevil population. The labour-intensive method of clipping off affected spruce leaders is fairly effective, but this must be done several times a year over the course of up to seven years to deal adequately with the problem. This is relatively economical only while infestation levels are low. Enter the good bugs. The tiny parasite known as Lonchaea corticis eats weevils. ‘‘Since the larvae of L. corticis each attack more than one immature weevil to complete their development, this predaceous insect is con- sidered to play an important role in the control of P. strobi populations,” the 1983 study optomistically reports. And this all takes place inside the infested tree, gettting at the weevils before they can emerge to attack another tree and reproduce. The local Forestry office is in- volved in an experimental re- search trial to see if L. corticis will succeed where all other methods have failed. Crews con- tinue to clip leaders in early August before the adults emerge. Instead of geiting rid of the infested branches, however, they’re placed into nearby bar- rels, A screen mesh then covers the top, which is too fine for the weevils to escape, but big enough for the L. coticis to move out in search of more weevil-infested spruce. Kata- sonoff says the purpose is to en- courage the increase of these parasites, which are normally found only in small numbers. Second growth stands . of Terrace, 8.C. V8G 1P2 BEST PRICES IN NORTHERN 8.C. 4434 Lakelse Avenue spruce up to 15 or 20 feet high are affected in this area, mainly in the Kitimat Valley and the side drainage areas of the Skeena River towards Prince Rupert. This is the first time such research has taken place in this area, with the barrels being plac- e DURITIG OUR SPECTACULAR GRAND OPENING Opening in the old Fred's Furniture Building July 23, 1988 TERRACE FURNITURE MART & APPLIANCES NG VALUES ed near a creek just east of Ter- race last July. While the 1983 report was hopeful that Z. cor ticis would be a ‘powerful in- fluence’? in suppressing the weevil population, it also reminded us that the two bugs ‘have lived together for countless generations.” Ph, (604) 638-1119 638-0555 ~~.