So long, and thanks for all the wood; Talking pine beetles plot our demise

Banff Crag & Canyon ' The mountain pine beetles are talking to us.
That's how former Banff Centre instructor Ernie Kroeger sees the markings left by the notorious tree-eating critters.
'I'm fascinated by the design and the calligraphy of the markings,' he said. 'I see them as letters.'
His artwork, inspired by the squiggles he calls 'beetle letters,' involves making pencil rubbings, or frottages, of the 'ancient language' and printing it onto colour photo paper. He has humorously dubbed the process 'frottography.'
He then distributes the photos to a team of translators who attempt to assign meaning to the markings and records their findings for future publication. The project, which started as 'a little playing around,' has turned into a full-time endeavour and Kroeger is working at The Banff Centre's Bebel Babble Rabble Residency with a creative think tank of artists inspired by text in visual art.
So far his conclusions are being kept top secret.
'It's too early to tell,' he said. 'I intend to distribute (my artwork) to poets and creative writers' and to scientists,' he said. 'Of course, it's a poetic kind of thing where you are interpreting the message. I expect people will try and get inside the head of the beetle.'
There is no 'big overt message' or statement made by his artwork but he was inspired by his love of the wilderness and photography.
'This is very beautiful to me,' he said, grasping a piece of beetle-marked wood. 'But at the same time it is very destructive.'
The process of global warming is helping the mountain pine beetle survive, he added.
Kroeger, who has a keen interest in landscape photography, lived in Banff and worked at The Banff Centre from 1988 to 2005. He now resides in Kamloops but plans to launch his upcoming book in Kamloops and Banff early next year. The abstract images of his exhibit, entitled Beetle Letters and the findings of his translators will be included in the book.
Of course, if he discovers that the beetles are plotting our immediate destruction or warning us of our pending doom, Kroeger promised to inform SummitUp staff before his research is complete.