Did the mountain pine beetle contribute to the Jasper fire? [Video]

As Jasper recovers from the wildfire that destroyed nearly a third of the town, some critics blame mountain pine beetle for turning the iconic national park into a tinderbox.

Antonia Musso, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alberta who has been working with mountain pine beetle in Alberta since 2016, is one of many experts who isn’t convinced the infestation played a role.

“I think it’s really unlikely that the kill from the pine beetle had an impact on the wildfire in Jasper,” Musso said.

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While older scientific literature suggests that beetle-killed trees would increase the severity of wildfires, more recent literature indicates that it depends on how long it has been since the outbreak.

Musso said wildfire severity was at its worst between zero and three years post-outbreak when the trees are red. …