Oakville shows off Emerald Ash Borer program

InsideHalton.com
July 1, 2015

Oakville’s Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) Management program received international recognition recently with forestry professionals from Canada, the U.S. and Europe taking a guided tour of Oakville’s response to the arrival of the invasive pest.

Part of a five-day International Advanced Practitioner Workshop organized by the University of Toronto, the tour provided an opportunity for forest health specialists from a variety of countries to learn how EAB can be combated.

“Oakville has one of the most aggressive EAB management programs in the country,” said Oakville Mayor Rob Burton.

The Town is currently treating 5,700 municipal ash trees with the bio-insecticide TreeAzin, which keeps the EAB from killing the trees.

The tour included a visit to Iroquois Shoreline Woods Park where the Town has managed the restoration of the woodland, which was once devastated by Oak decline and the two-lined chestnut borer.

The group learned about the Town’s plan to remove dead or dying ash trees from 22 local woodlands this year as part of a 10-plus year Woodlands Hazard Abatement program.

The spread of invasive forest pests such as EAB and the Asian Long-Horned Beetle is a priority issue for many municipalities around the world.