A system, device, and method are provided to control dense-mode multicast traffic across a multilayer system containing an upper network and a tunnel across a lower network. An upstream multicast tunneling edge device (MTED) may indicate to downstream MTEDs, via control messages, the presence of a multicast source, group (SG) pair. The MTEDs may serve as routers or as intelligent bridges in the upper network. Each downstream MTED may create a forwarding state for the SG pair, determine tunnels for which the downstream MTED is to serve as an exit device and configure the tunnels to deliver the traffic. Lower network MTEDs of a tunnel may determine whether to transport multicast data for each SG pair such that multicast traffic routed by a corresponding MTED is carried. An MTED may be able to receive, through the tunnel, multicast traffic for one SG pair even after pruning itself for another SG pair.