©2009 Nina Berman/NOOR

Pine Beetles

Since 1990, more than 36 million acres of pine forests in British Columbia have been decimated by the mountain pine beetle. Experts predict that by 2014 at least 80 percent of the pines in British Columbia will be dead.  No larger than a grain of rice, the pine beetle is endemic in Rocky Mountains of western North American. Winter temperatures below minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit once kept the beetle in check. Warming trends have permitted the beetle larvae to survive the winter and proliferate at an astounding rate in forests from Mexico to Canada.  Mature pine trees, weakened by drought, cannot withstand the onslaught, and as the beetle multiplies, younger trees also are falling prey.

Dead trees are fodder for wild fires. The beetle kill has wreaked havoc on the economy of regions dependent upon logging and tourism. Authorities acknowledge that man cannot stop the rampage of the pine beetle. The beetle will eat until it runs out of food or until deeply cold winter temperatures return to kill its larvae.

“I felt,” says Berman, “like I was seeing a cataclysmic shift in our understanding of what forests look like.

About Nina  Berman:

USA, 1960 – Nina Berman’s long-term projects have focused primarily on the American political and social landscape. She is best known for her portraits of wounded soldiers returning from Iraq. She is the author of two books, Purple Hearts and Homeland, both of which deal with war and militarism. Her work is widely exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards in art and journalism including World Press Photo, the Open Society Institute and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She is on the faculty of the International Center of Photography (ICP) in her hometown of New York City, where she resides.