Pine Bark Beetle in BC

The pine trees in our province have been under attack by the Pine Beetle.

 I was almost afraid to go for a walk today in Ellison Provincial Park, which is a popular camping spot about 15 minutes away and my favorite place to go.  Last fall, they began removing beetle kill trees so I worried it would no longer be a forest and would now be a treeless wasteland.                                                                          

I have a few favorite Ponderosa Pines that I always like to visit as they have the most amazing bark.  It fits together like a jigsaw puzzle.  I often wished I could think of an art project that would use the pieces.

                                                                 The previous picture shows how the bark falls off and how much the pieces look like a puzzle.                                            

This red tree is showing damaged bark.                                                                                                                                                                                                  The next picture shows trees marked for removal.                                                            

The final picture shows one of my favorite old trees.  It's been dead a long time and I have no idea what caused it but what an amazing twist to it.  I wonder what caused it to grow that way?
  I didn't just photograph the damaged trees, I will show the rest of the pictures tomorrow as it is a beautiful park.