EDMONTON – A massive and uncontrollable buildup of mountain pine beetles in Jasper National Park is starting to explode into commercially valuable forests along its boundaries. Foresters along the park’s edge have seen a tenfold increase in beetle infestation in just months, and some scientists wonder if Parks Canada could have done more to control the invasion a few years ago. “They decided to consider the pine beetle a ‘native disturbance agent,”‘ said Allan Carroll, who has studied the beetles since the late 1990s. …”Just that hesitation intrinsic to producing a management plan precluded any effective outcomes.” West Fraser Timber manages about 13,000 square kilometres along the park’s eastern edge and runs a large mill in the town of Hinton just outside the boundary. The company removed about 40,000 bug-infested trees last year. That number has grown.