Clarington still fighting emerald ash borer
Three hundreds trees to be removed by end of 2016, 350 more will replace them

DurhamRegion.com
Oct. 10, 2016

Clarington is continuing the fight against the emerald ash borer beetle.

An estimated 300 trees in the municipality are scheduled for removal by the end of 2016, and about 350 replacement trees will be planted starting this fall.

“We are working to eliminate the infected trees; we are also asking residents to choose from several different species of trees that will be planted in place of the infected ash trees,” says parks supervisor Bob Genosko.

Most of the trees being removed this year are located south of Hwy. 2 in Courtice.

“Our residents are understandably concerned about the tree canopy. We have a plan for removal and replanting, and we will follow it,” said Clarington Mayor Adrian Foster. “This does take time, and it’s a costly process.”

It costs about $700 to remove an infected ash tree, grind the stump down and replace it with another tree species.

In 2017, crews will concentrate on removing trees north of Hwy. 2 in Courtice, followed by trees in Bowmanville in 2018 and Newcastle and other hamlets in 2019.

Tree replacement will focus on Courtice in 2017 and 2018, Bowmanville in 2019 and Newcastle in 2020.

To date, an estimated 887 trees in Clarington have been removed either due to weather -- such as the 2013 ice storm -- or infection.

Clarington has approximately 1,579 ash trees left on residential boulevards; this does not include ash trees in parks and on rural roads. The number of ash trees in those spaces has not been determined.