Public Support for Harvesting Mountain Pine Beetle Infected Trees in British Columbia: Economic Impact or Environmental Attitudes?

The mountain pine beetle (MPB) epidemic is the largest recorded outbreak in British Columbia’s history currently covering almost 10 percent of British Columbia’s 9.2 million hectares of forest.  The problems it poses are not merely ecological but also social and economic.  An evaluation of the public’s perceptions of MPB management alternatives provides decision-makers with information needed to make publicly acceptable decisions concerning the use and recovery of affected areas.  A survey was administered to 312 respondents, half in Prince George, a more forest-dependent community, and half in Kelowna, a less forest-dependent one. This research found considerable public support for increased harvesting of MPB infected trees.  The public appears to have accepted the position of the Council of Forest Industries as well as the federal and provincial governments that increased harvesting is the appropriate approach to managing the outbreak.  Though public debate and policies often emphasize the economic consequences of natural disturbance events, concern for the economic impact of the MPB was not associated with support for harvesting.  Instead education, age, and environmental value orientation distinguished support for harvesting MPB infected trees among respondents in these two communities.  The OLS regression results revealed that an ecological modernization viewpoint was the strongest predictor of support for harvesting.  Respondents who scored high on this environmental attitude index downplayed the importance of environmental concerns and relied on economic and scientific progress to solve environmental problems.  The driver for supporting increased harvesting appeared to be a belief that human intervention can solve environmental problems.  These findings support norm-activation theory’s explanation of environmental concern.  This research also demonstrates the value of examining the social determinants of public support for strategies for managing natural disturbances as part of the policy making process.