Town plants trees to fight emerald ash borer

FortErieTimes.ca
Oct. 19, 2016
Kris Dube

Every little bit helps.

On Saturday, the Town of Fort Erie hosted Plant-a-Tree Day at Empire Loyalist Park in Stevensville, made possible through a $25,000 contribution from CN EcoConnexions – From the Ground Up program.

This amount allowed for 200 trees to be added to the park replacing ones around town that have been removed due to the emerald ash borer, a wood-boring beetle that has infested trees in Niagara and parts of North America.

Mayor Wayne Redekop was one of the many participants who turned soil on Saturday morning.

“It was a great event,” said Redekop.

On Monday, council approved a staff report detailing the cost to date of combatting the invasive insect and the havoc it has wreaked around town.

A total of $263, 334 has been spent on routine maintenance to trees while $248, 972 has been spent on the removal of trees.

There are 3,500 ash trees in Fort Erie’s municipal inventory, according to the report.

“We have the largest tree canopy in the entire region,” said Redekop.

It is estimated that with an annual budget of almost $342,000 – it will cost the Town nearly $2.2 million over the next six years to fight the emerald ash borer.

Fort Erie was one of 31 communities from across the country to receive funding through the CN program, which has an objective to promote community sustainability, through the greening of municipal and community properties across Canada.

The Town’s arborist has estimates that all the true ash trees in Fort Erie are infested with EAB totalling approximately 16,500 trees (3,500 town-owned; 13,000 privately-owned).