Ah... webs... the pine beetle has been in BC as long as the pine has been here. Period. The reason it has become a problem was the great job of fire suppression that we did with the surplus WW2 bombers converted to firefighting and Smokey the Bear. It allowed older stands to escape fire and become prime rib for the beetle. The beetle population spiked to the point that it was able to overwhelm younger, more resilient stands and continue exploding from there. We had a chance in the early 1980's to beat back the beetle that was emerging from Tweedsmuir Prov. Park with a planned burn that did not get off and met huge public resistance so was not continued. The government did see it coming but their hands were tied while biology and population dynamics took care of the rest.
Stumpage (the fee paid to the Crown for harvesting timber) was reduced because of the low value of beetle damaged timber and the urgency needed to harvest undamaged timber before it became damaged by the beetle. It was further held low due to the lumber market collapse in 2007 that we only just now have recovered. Everyone took a hit, not just the small operators. Look at WFP's problems, Hayes, Ainsworth, etc. - big operators that either restructured or disappear.
BC's annual timber harvest peeked at 100M cubic meters a year. 9 billion meters would be 90 years of harvest. We only started harvesting Lodgepole pine in the 1980's when the level of mechanization in the forest and optimization in the mills made it viable. The beetle wood has been harvested as fast as markets and logistics allow. That is why we are running in to fibre shortages now. It is called the "fall-down" as we move from high volume first growth stands to lower volume 2nd growth stands.
You might need to reexamine your version of history and what you've extrapolated from it - especially before calling everyone an idiot.
