Costly job of dealing with ash borer in Cornwall

Standard-Freeholder.com
Feb. 23, 2016
Greg Peerenboom

The latest information on the city's efforts to combat the ash tree eating beetle will be presented to city council in the near future.

After council approved to spend $82,000 on Monday for a tree-cutting service and a replanting program, Coun. Bernadette Clement said it was time for council to gauge the efforts to minimize the effects of the emerald ash borer bug.

Clement said it would be an ideal exercise to know how fast the city is burning through an expected cost of $2.5 million, spread over five years. When the program was launched in 2014 there was an expectation it would run 15 years and cost $5.9 million.

Previously, parks/recreation manager Jamie Fawthrop explained the consumption of the beetle has exceeded expectations, requiring the removal of more trees than expected.

The city has budgeted $500,000 this year.

The issue of trying to recoup some of the costs by selling the cut ash appears still unresolved for Coun. Andre Rivette.

Rivette had asked city arborist Scott Porter if there is an opportunity to sell the wood, instead of storing it for free and letting anyone from the public take it away.

Porter replied that it winds up costing more if the tree cutting contractor stores and cuts the wood and then tries to sell it.

Rivette was skeptical.

"We made over $100,000 from selling chopped wood from the (1998) ice storm wood," he said.

After the meeting, Rivette suggested the city should recruit the Raisin Region Conservation Authority to help out

"They have the people to do that, they have a splitter and chainsaws," he said, noting that with the RRCA co-ordinating the efforts a depot in Guindon Park could be set up and allow for a non-profit organization to sell the wood and then benefit from the revenue.

As for the free ash that is stored at the public works garage property, Rivette also suspects that an individual could be taking advantage of the free wood.

"It's the same truck ... and it always has a full load. (The driver) knows when the wood is coming in," he said, adding he has alerted the manager in charge of parks, Mark Boileau, about the situation after he received complaints from the public.