WILLIAMS LAKE – The Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development is currently conducting helicopter-logging operations in the Williams Lake area to minimize the spread of Douglas fir beetles on Crown land. This heli-logging program has recently been expanded to the Chimney Valley in the area west of Dog Creek Road along Chimney Creek (south of Williams Lake). Helicopter flights in this added area are expected to begin on Feb. 14 or Feb. 15, 2018. Douglas fir beetle populations are higher than normal in parts of the Cariboo. 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.