VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 26 (UPI) -- An infestation of pine beetles that decimated British Columbia's pine forests is winding down, as the bugs don't have much left to eat, forestry officials say.

"Beetles in the western side of the Rocky Mountains have fundamentally eaten themselves out of house and home," Doug Routledge, vice president of the Council of Forest Industries told the Globe and Mail newspaper in Vancouver. "The beetles are running out of food, so the populations are beginning to crash."

B.C. Forestry Minister Rich Coleman predicted the infestation that began in 1999 should be finished in 3-5 years, the report said.

The millions of dead, yellowed trees can still be salvaged for such things as burning to create energy, but their value as timber is lost, the Globe and Mail said.

The forestry ministry said this month the beetles have affected about 850 million cubic yards of timber, or about 15 years of harvest volume. The ministry estimated 76 percent of the province's total pine volume will have been killed by 2015, the newspaper said.