It’s a small insect, but it’s having a huge impact on communities across Ontario. And now there are new rules in Simcoe County aimed at limiting the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer.
Some are calling it an environmental disaster for Ontario forests.
“The Emerald Ash Borer is one that we cannot control and we have lost our ash trees across the province,” says naturalist Bev Campbell.
The Emerald Ash Borer is a highly destruction pest that has killed millions of ash trees in southern Ontario and the United States. And almost all ash trees in Ontario and Quebec are at risk.
James Bourjeaurd is an arborist who has seen the damage the pest has done first hand. And spotting the Ash Borer is tough because it develops under the bark of the tree.
“Once the bug in the larva stage it travels under the bark into the first layer of hardwood which is sapwood and it makes a distinctive ‘S’ pattern up along the wall of the tree.”
There is a chemical that arborists can use to help guard against the disease. One is called is TreeAzin and to be affective it must be applied before the tree is infested and costs approximately $300 - $400 per tree. Nauralist Bev Campbell worries that people won’t want to spend that kind of money.
“The average homeowner could be spending large dollars to try and save a tree.”
And how can you tell an ash tree from any other tree? There are two ways says forester Graeme Davis.
“One is opposite branches where the ash buds come out and over the branch in the same lo
New rules to limit the Emerald Ash Borer in Simcoe County
cation and on opposite branches as oppose to alternate.”
The other is with bark pattern.
“We’re looking at fairly tight bark – almost a diamond shape to the bark as it matures,” add Davis.
Davis maintains that firewood should always be purchased and burned locally and not transported. He hopes that some ash trees will survive and being proactive could stop the spread of the pest.
“The intention now is the tree regulator, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency – is to prevent it from spreading the other parts of Canada.
Learn more about the Emerald Ash Borer here.
