Wasaga to cull 1,000 ash trees in 2017
Emerald ash borer will cost town $300,000 in 2017

Simcoe.com
Dec. 20, 2016
Ian Adams  

An invasive species has bored a $300,000 hole into Wasaga Beach’s 2017 budget.

That’s how much the town expects to spend in preventing the spread of the emerald ash borer, a wood-boring beetle native to eastern Asia that has killed millions of ash trees in North America since 2002.

Parks and recreation manager Gerry Reinders told council’s committee of the whole during a public presentation of the budget that the town will be taking down 1,000 ash trees in 2017, out of the total population of 5,400 ash trees on municipal property.

The rest will be removed over the next four years, leaving only 20 ash trees on municipal property that will be treated in an effort to preserve the species.

Reinders told Simcoe.com the first trees to be culled will be in the west end of town.

“We identified (the emerald ash borer) in one area in the west end in late 2015, and last year it was in two other areas,” he said.

The insect's larvae destroy the layer under an ash tree's bark that transports nutrients and water throughout the tree. The pest can typically kill a mature tree in one to three years.

A study of the steps Wasaga Beach should take, presented to council in April, suggested about 99 per cent of the ash trees on municipal property should be taken down.

This year’s funding is for both tree removal, and to begin treatment of the 20 trees identified for preservation with an insecticide designed specifically to kill the emerald ash borer.

The insecticide, TreeAzin, is derived from a plant native to the Indian subcontinent. The cost to treat a tree works out to $5 for every centimetre of diameter, with a normal tree costing about $200 to $300.

Reinders noted residents are responsible for trees on private property. Information on how to deal with the borer and affected trees is available on the County of Simcoe website at www.simcoe.ca/Forestry/Pages/ashborer.aspx.