Beetle invasion leads to tree removal in Barrie's Allandale neighbourhood

TheBarrieExaminer.com
May 22, 2017
Bob Bruton

When a tree falls in Allandale, everybody hears about it.

And there’s been noise lately as ash trees are to come down in one of Barrie’s older neighbourhoods.

The city is removing and replacing many ash trees in Allandale because of emerald ash borers, invasive beetles which attack and kill all types of white, green and red ash trees.

“They’re cutting down every ash tree. Right at this point, they have 189 listed to come down, just in Allandale,” said Barbara Mackie, who lives at the corner of Cumberland Street and Bayview Drive.

“I think some people need to know that these 100-year-old trees are coming down.”

The city plans to remove 342 ash trees along Barrie streets this year, on boulevards and roads allowances, 84 in its parks and approximately 100 along forest edges and trails.

Sherryl Hopper lives on Bayview, between Cumberland and Burton, and has a huge, 100-year-old ash tree in front of her home - another one 150 feet up from that, both slated to come down.

“I thought ‘this isn’t right, there’s nothing wrong with this tree, yet’,” she said of the one in front. “I can see them cutting down all the dead ones, right away.

“If they’re badly infected, of course, they need to come down.”

Cathy Colebatch, speaking for the Allandale Neighbourhood Association (ANA), has said it takes issue with the number of trees slated to be removed from her neighbourhood this season.

“We are very proud of out 75-100 year old trees and hope to work with the city to save the ones we can,” she wrote in a letter to the city.

The city has been dropping off letters and a brochures to Allandale residents, explaining what’s being done with nearby ash trees.

Kevin Rankin, Barrie’s forestry supervisor, said if residents want a tree saved, it’s assessed to see if it can be treated.

“If it’s a decent tree but it’s not currently infested, and they want to get an arborist to treat it or a company to treat it themselves, then they can do that as well,” he said.“It’s quite expensive, though.”

Neighbours have mentioned $500, a figure Rankin confirmed. And it needs to be done annually.

“No permanent solutions (are) available,” he said. “There isn’t one that exists anywhere in the world.”

Rankin explained the emerald ash borer kills a tree by feeding on it and cutting off its circulation system. The treatment, a pesticide, works its way into the tree’s circulation system.

“When the bug tries to eat on it, the pesticide kills the bug,” he said. “But once they’ve started eating into the tree and cutting off the circulation ... then that insecticide can’t spread through the tree properly, and it never really works.

“If they aren’t being treated, they eventually will all get infected and die. It will take a number of years.”

The city does have a budget for treating trees and has identified a couple of hundred ash trees scattered across the city, in high-profile areas – the waterfront, Sunnidale Park’s arboretum, 50-80 on city streets, spread through Barrie, that are large, mature and have a decent life span still ahead of them

Rankin said treatment costs $8,000-$9,000 annually, for 50-100 trees a year.

Approximately 40-45% of the ash trees on streets have been replaced, and a small percentage of the park ash.

All ash trees being replaced are on city property, none on private land.

Mackie would like residents to have more options, such as treating healthy ash trees funded one-third by neighbours, one-third by the city and one-third by the ANA.

The city implemented a moratorium on planting ash trees on public land in 2007, and recommended they be omitted from all private landscaping plans.