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Peel photographer’s work captures ash trees ravaged by emerald ash borer
Brampton and Mississauga's ecology and economy impacted by EAB

Jan. 27, 2017
bramptonguardian.com
By Radhika Panjwani

Brampton photographer Shavon Madden, 25, believes true art has the power to provoke, question and compel people to think.

That’s why, Madden’s work, “The Mark,” an ongoing series documenting ash trees destroyed by the invasive emerald ash borer (EAB), prompts deeper questioning into the issue.

According to Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) the ash borer's presence has been noted all across Peel as well as the GTA. Since it was first detected around 2002, EAB has single-handedly wreaked havoc on the economy and ecology of municipalities dealing with the infestation.

So far, Madden has shot more than 1,000 photographs of the trees in Brampton and Mississauga and other places in the GTA. Her curiosity was first piqued in 2015 by the bright orange-coloured dot on a tree waiting culling, she said.

“When I first saw the orange paint on the trees, I thought it ironical that these were human markings,” she said. “We are the ones responsible for the problem and yet here we are destroying a living thing.”

So armed with her trusty Canon D5, Madden, who will be graduating from University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) with a specialist in art and art history and a major in environmental, began to capture the sad, yet telling images. She took dozens of shots of ash trees; some that were marked for destruction, while others standing as a desolate cluster of naked stumps without leaves or limbs.

“I wanted to create a piece of art work the public could interact with,” she said. “At first, I wanted to explore and document the “why” but soon that question led to “how many?’”

Ecology and the economy of EAB

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) costs for treatment, removal and replacement of trees devoured by ash borer in Canadian municipalities will likely reach $2 billion over a 30-year period.

The EAB, a native of Asia, continues to thrive in Canada because it’s able to survive Canadian winters, which have become warmer as a result of global warming, explained Monica Havelka, a professor at UTM’s programs in environment.

“The impact of EAB is pretty devastating,” she explained. “My understanding is it arrived from Asia in untreated wood products around 2000. Not every species that arrives from else where will get a toehold in an ecosystem, but every once in a while we see something like the EAB and it becomes a perfect storm.”

The invader - which spreads and reproduces quickly - has been able to thrive in Canada because it does not have any natural enemies, she said adding EAB continues to devour all five species of native ash.

“The EAB has had a significant effect on the urban woodlots and ecosystem,” Havelka said. “The health of ecosystem within our city limits is dependent on biodiversity. When we start to lose a dominant species (ash trees), it’s going to completely change the function of the ecosystem.”

Absence of a tree canopy allows more sunlight to get in and this dries out the forest floor affecting the survival of seedlings and disrupting the fragile and interconnected chain in the ecosystem, said Havelka.

In 2014, CVC - with funding from Region of Peel - undertook a series of measures to curb EAB. These included setting up ash borer traps, green plastic prism covered with sticky substance to capture the insects. Some trees were also inoculated with a bio-insecticide.

BRAMPTON

MISSISSAUGA

**Brampton and Mississauga lost several ash trees during the 2013 ice storm