Residents should anticipate hearing the sounds of helicopter logging on Crown Land in the Williams Lake area in the next few weeks. The Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development announced Wednesday it will begin the second year of helicopter logging operations to minimize the spread of Douglas fir beetles on Crown land. “Douglas fir beetle populations are currently higher than normal in parts of the Cariboo,” the ministry noted in a press release. “The insects normally attack small groups of trees and a significant infestation will weaken and eventually kill a tree over the period of about a year.” As part of the Williams Lake Beetle Management Unit 2017 Treatment Plan, helicopter harvesting will be done on steep slopes in the Williams Lake area to remove infested trees.