The predictable nature of the pine beetle's destruction has given Quesnel fair warning: people know it's coming. They see the effects of the beetle every day, in the red needles of decaying trees in the surrounding forests and in the convoys of log-laden transport trucks they pass on the way to work.

Carol Pitkin, a co-partner at Outlaw Clothing in the city's core, said the beetle started becoming town talk about three or four years ago. The topic is even hotter now — but it hasn't changed the generally positive atmosphere in Quesnel, she said.

The Quesnel river pulp facility is working at capacity as the industry has been given permission to harvest more trees than normal, before the pine beetle makes the lumber worthless. (Photo courtesy the city of Quesnel)

"People aren't walking around depressed and stressed out. It's of great concern for the people of Quesnel and the area, but there are lots of people working on it right now," said Pitkin, who has lived in Quesnel for 18 years.

Like most other places in town, business at her store is going well, thanks in part to the lumber industry. With more people working, there's more money in the economy and more customers looking to buy.

But Pitkin said she can't count on the boom for too long.

"Clothing will be one of the first areas to get hit. You can do without a pair of jeans," she said.

Bruce Broughton, an avid hiker who has lived in Quesnel for 46 years, said he has had a close-up view of the forest's decimation.

"You look at different areas where all the trees are dead in and from a distance you don't notice it," said Broughton, who co-owns Willis Harper Hardware and Furniture in Quesnel.

"It's when you get up close that you see the devastation. It's frustrating to see it happening."

Meanwhile, Broughton said he is pleased the problem is finally getting the attention it deserves — but can't help wishing the attention occurred years ago when it was still possible to take preventative action.

Like many in the town, he hopes Quesnel can create long-term jobs and branch off into new industries. "I was born and raised here. I've been here all my life. It's dear to my heart that we survive."

Racing the clock to diversify

City officials hope that by taking quick action now, they will be able to limit the beetle's economic effects — and perhaps even leave Quesnel in a better situation than it was before the epidemic started.

They are trying to look at the mountain pine beetle as a gift, pointing out that it has given the town a 10-year start on something they had to do anyway: diversify.

In 2006, city council and the Quesnel Economic Development Corp. released a report entitled Prosperity and Sustainability to outline prospective options. The report combines research from other towns that have recovered from the loss of their main industry, as well as an analysis of what the Quesnel area has to offer.

"The prosperity plan doesn't talk about the sky falling," said Jim Savage, the executive director of the development corporation and an author of the report.

"It just acknowledges that a change will have to occur in the community."

The report suggests that 3,000 jobs could be created in Quesnel in industries such as agriculture, green firms, minerals, tourism and transportation; by enhancing the quality of life in Quesnel and through new uses in the forestry sector.

Highlights from the plan include:

• Attracting a strand board or pellet plant to use the beetle-killed wood, which is of lower quality.
• Looking at other natural resource industries such as coal, oil, gas and metals.
• Using the decaying wood as biomass for renewable energy and fuel.
• Enhancing health-care and senior services to lure more retirees to the area.
• Developing the post-secondary education sector.
• Improving tourism, creating spinoff services from an upscale tourist train that recently began stopping off in the community en route from Whistler, B.C., to Jasper, Alta.

Savage said the city wants to focus its energies on the industries that it can exert the most control over.

"Although there is lots of strong opportunities for mining and resource industries, the community has no control on what happens with it," he said. "Our point is that we need to concentrate on things we can influence."

Time for tax dollars to flow back, officials argue

Since the release of the report, the corporation has been busy writing proposals and focusing on more detailed strategies. Savage said they will take the proposals to the provincial and federal governments to demonstrate that Quesnel needs money allocated directly to the community and job creation.

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell shows the damage pine beetles have done to a processed piece of wood during a news conference in Vancouver, Sept. 19, 2005. (Chuck Stoody/CP)

"We will be coming up with a plan that requires tens of millions of dollars in assistance," Savage said.

"Over the last couple of decades Quesnel has given billions of dollars … Ottawa and Victoria. We would like a small slice of that cash back."

Quesnel Mayor Nate Bello, who was part of the team that compiled the report, said he has been trying to get government attention on the issue.

Bello said projects to enhance Quesnel's future are already underway. In the past year, the College of New Caledonia opened its doors in the city, and Bello said he hopes to create ties between the college and other post-secondary schools in the province.

He also pointed to a development in May of 2006, when the upscale tourism company Rocky Mountaineer Vacations chose Quesnel as a stopover on its Fraser Discovery rail tour.

The company, which distributes more than one million brochures a year, has helped showcase the tourism potential of Quesnel. Among other attractions, the city is located about 100 kilometres west of Barkerville, a historic site that had been the heart of the Cariboo Gold Rush in the 1800s.

"The people on the train, the workers, they say we're their favourite stop because we are down-home," Bello said. "We aren't crowded and we have space."

Space is also the reason that the area is seeing an influx of new residents buying homes and opening small businesses in the area, Bello said.

"It's getting full down there in the Okanagan Valley or Vancouver Island. Even if you wanted to, you can't afford a home there, but you can afford it here."

Some believe forestry industry will adapt

Meanwhile, although the province has estimated the supply of wood would start to drop off in about seven years, Coleman said he is confident the forest industry will continue to be present, in some form, in the province.

"There will still be a forest sector in the Interior B.C., if not for two-by-fours or two-by-sixes, it will be for pellets or strand board."

Rushton, of Clan Logging, said he is also positive the forest industry will survive the beetle.

He believes the industry will start using the lower-quality stands in pulp mills and for strand board or chipboard, which use wood in chip form. He also pointed out that Quesnel's mills in Quesnel are some of the most technologically advanced in the world and have adapted to past market changes.

Bello said he believes Quesnel's quality of life will keep residents in the city, as well as helping ease the transition past the pine beetle and back to prosperity.

"We like our way of living up here. I see this as nothing but positive if people believe in us and we work hard."

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