History
The first mountain pine beetle infestation in the County of Wetaskiwin was discovered in the summer of 2018. County staff began scouting in 2019 and had 40 confirmed sites. In 2020 there were 5 additional sites identified however the attacks appeared to be from a previous year. Recently the Government of Alberta reported beetle numbers are down and have sharply declined for the fourth consecutive year and have confirmed that the risk of Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB) spread throughout Wetaskiwin County is low in the west and extremely low in the east.
Control
Thanks to the generosity of Alberta Agriculture & Forestry, the County will have verbenone pouches for sale at $6/pouch to County of Wetaskiwin residents and $12/non-county residents. Verbenone is a synthetic anti-aggregation pheromone that gives the beetles a “No Vacancy” message so they continue their flight. These verbenone pouches are attached to the north side of the tree about 6 – 8’ from the ground and cover 12 - 15 square meters. The pouches should be hung around July 1st in order to be effective for the mid July flight.
If you are interested in purchasing verbenone pouches and not on our list or if you have questions about the MPB program and to detect if you have these beetles in your pine trees, please contact Nicole Lancaster at 780-352-3321 ext.2290 or email.
Payment in advance for the pouches can be done by:
- Mailing a cheque
- Credit Card through OptionPay (for more information on OptionPay, please click on the link)
- At the County Office (cash, cheque or debit)