QO Driving ourselves crazy since 1994, November 23, 2005 Volume 12, Issue 6 Mountain Pine Beetle Forum Comes to UNBC Mountain Pine Beetle Forum attendees fill up a lecture theatre in the new lab building at UNBC. The forum focussed on developing strategies to address the environmental, economic, and community issues caused by epidemic. ANNA GRADOWSKA STAFF WRITER The growing mountain pine beetle (MPB) epidemic is an issue not easily avoided in northern British Columbia. In 1999, only 0.2 million hectares of forest were affected, growing to an astounding 10 million hectares this year, and the effects can be seen in our own backyards. There are few parts of BC unaffected by the spread of the beetles, with areas in the centre of the province being hit hardest by the in- creasing infestation. The importance of this issue to BC’s economy, commun- ities, and ecosystems is inescapable, so, this past month, UNBC and UBC organized a forum - the second forum on the subject this year - to discuss the issues entailed. Approximately 160 attended at UNBC — about twice as many as at- tended a similar forum in Vancouver. Researchers, community representa- tives, and other concerned individuals flooded the auditorium of the North- ern Medical Building and the Canfor on November 9 and 10 to participate in the two-part meeting. Environmental, economic, and com- munity issues have brought them here to put their minds together in the hope of developing strategies for future ac- tion. The three main goals outlined. by UNBC's own VP of Research, Dr. Max Blouw, are to synthesize research, iden- tify the gaps in knowledge, and then to develop an agenda for action. One of the central issues discussed in the forum was the poor coordina- tion within the province, The lack of synchronization between researchers, government, and communities has left many areas fending for themselves. There is no lack of research done on MPB, but many communities forced - to deal with the epidemic are in short supply of information. Says Greg Hal- seth, a UNBC Geography professor and research chair for rural studies, “Communities are making decisions now and the information they need to make them was needed yesterday.’ Halseth also pointed out that, though industry and government are very con- cerned with the MPB epidemic, ultim- ately, they have their own interests to protect. A major point stressed in the forum was that communities are best suited to take the actions that are re- quired to protect themselves and their surroundings, though they are grossly underfunded and uninformed. Recently, certain areas affected by MPB have created small community- based organizations to try and coordin- ate action in the area. CCBAC, a re- gional group for the Cariboo-Chilcotin area, made a presentation at the forum. The group, and others like it, hopes to not only give the communities they represent access to information but- also give a human face to the epidemic. “It's not about the beetle, it's not about the trees: it's about communities,’ said Keith Dufresne, representative for the CCBAC group. Rural communities hit by MPB need to be maintained be- fore and after this MPB epidemic, and CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 Finding a Solution to the National IT Worker Shortage JEREMY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER A news article was released recently on a study that suggests that there could be a shortage of IT (Informa- tion and Technology) workers, due to a drop in enrollment in that field. This has led experts debating on the issue over what this means for the future of the computer industry as a whole. Dr. Jonathan Schaeffer, Chairman for the University of Alberta, said, “There's going to be a huge gap between what industry needs and what academia is going to supply.’ The vice-president of an Edmonton- based software company said, “[This will] cause huge problems for the in- dustry. We have tactical plans to find the staff we need, but we have no long- IN THIS ISSUE: INGWUS icc cassasseterceessasscormascasetmemre reese OpinION:a5 cee. FEREMINE accscvscossssscsccasstnenteseesersesscareses Sports and Clubs an REMCWGE..ciciucince a, OMICS: secret tecssccctsessescrcscisiterers term plan in place.’ The study said that enrollment in 2001 was at 522 undergraduate stu- dents and dropped a surprising 25% to 392 in 2004. Dr. Patrick J. Mann, Computer and Communication Services Director of UNBC, agreed that this is a cause for concern, but suggested that there could be an upswing in the future. He said the problem in predicting the future for IT is that there is a four year lag between when a student enrolls and when the student graduates. He also suggested that this may be just a gentle trend. Although it seems that things like this are happening in many other fields, such as medicine and education, the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 VINCENT CHAN Featured Recipe You won't make anything edible, but this will give you — some food for thought.