Kingston takes on emerald ash borer
TheWhig.com
Aug. 14, 2016
By Steph Crosier
This week residents will see crews around Kingston treating ash trees to protect them from the emerald ash borer.
"Selected ash trees are being treated every couple of years to ensure they remain free of the borers and safe to the public," Troy Stubinski, manager of public works, said in a news release.
The invasive emerald ash borer kills an ash tree in two-to-six years. It was first detected for the first time in North America in Windsor in 2002 and locally in 2013. The emerald ash borer is native to Asia, but the Canadian Forest Service estimates their destruction will cost Canadian municipalities $2-billion over 30 years.
The department of Natural Resources says the emerald ash borer has spread naturally and through human movement such as firewood. Currently the insect has spread across Ontario and southern Quebec from Sault Ste. Marie and Windsor in west to Montreal in the east. Currently 28 United States also have reported the emerald ash borer.
Winnipeg has taken a proactive approach even though the beetle hasn't been found in Manitoba yet. The City of Winnipeg in partnership with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Province of Manitoba install sticky traps to monitor the beetle's presence.
In Kingston the treatment is costly and not sustainable says the release, so many of the ash trees have been removed and will be replaced with a different species.
At the most recent city council meeting last Tuesday, Drake's Landscaping was awarded a $79,000 contract to plant 1,000 trees around the city this fall. City staff are responsible for the trees' ongoing care including watering and maintenance.
Where a tree has come down, may not be where it will replaces. Some of the trees will be relocated to avoid existing infrastructure like power lines.
To see where ash trees are being treated and to see how yo can protect ash trees on your property, visit www.CityofKingston.ca/EAB. Residents are encouraged to call an arborist for help.
On July 10, city council carried a motion to double Kingston's tree canopy by 2025. That would mean planting about 30,000 - the city's current count of trees on urban city property - more trees. It would mean planting 3,000 trees a year.