The pine forest in the central Okanagan could be soon become a memory as the devastation caused by the pine beetle continues to grow.
If the worst predictions are true, in areas like Kelowna upwards of 80 to 90 per cent of the pine trees will be killed by the insect.
Ian Wilson, urban forestry supervisor for City parks in Kelowna, says the worst is yet to come.
"We are seeing a progressively worse attack each year," he said.
"It's just getting worse, you know, month by month."
Test traps set in Kelowna indicate that after a cool inactive spring, the bugs are moving again. Wilson says dire predictions of an 80 per cent loss are probably accurate.
But some residents are refusing to give up without a fight -- and are turning to chemicals for their last stand.
Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops kept most of its pine trees healthy with an aggressive program that includes the use of pesticides. It seems to have worked.
Some Kelowna landowners have also done the same thing.
Kelowna is a city that does not like to use a lot of pesticides. Instead, city officials have wrapped their most valuable trees in a fine black mesh, hoping the mesh will keep the pine beetle away.
In Kamloops, the destruction of the pine forests is virtually complete. Parks, once forested are laid bare -- and surrounding the city are vast stands of red, lifeless pines.
With 90 per cent dead, time will tell how the voracious appetites of the bugs will affect nearby Kelowna.
Over half a million pine trees are expected to die inside City of Kelowna boundaries within the next few years.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Kent Molgat
