Ash borer hitting Stouffville trees

YorkRegion.com
Sept. 3, 2015
By Sandra Bola

Virtually all of the ash trees on boulevards within the community of Stouffville show evidence of being infected by the emerald ash borer, according to Rob Flindall, director of public works for the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville.

The infestation is contained to Stouffville because the trees, in all likelihood, came from a nursery, which means they are all clones, he said, adding, there are no pockets within Stouffville affected more than others.

“Emerald ash borer does not discriminate. If anything, the smaller trees seem to survive a little bit better,” Flindall said.

In 2012, there were 1,088 ash trees within the municipality’s roadways and so far, 130 have been removed. Trees in parks and open spaces, also managed by the town, were not inventoried.

The municipality is not utilizing any form of insecticide in order to manage the emerald ash borer, instead staff are opting to wait for the tree to die or be on the verge of death, before they chop it down, which Flindall noted is no different than what other municipalities are doing.

“We’re not going to take down what is essentially a living tree and replace it with another tree,” Flindall said.

The ash trees are being replaced with maples and oaks, to avoid what Flindall called a “monoculture” of trees.

Flindall warned people should not expect a new tree to be planted immediately after one has been removed. The process will take years.  Planting new trees does not guarantee they too will remain disease free, Flindall cautioned.

In July, an arborist, hired by the town, identified 180 ash trees in Stouffville that needed to be removed immediately. This will be done within the next two to three years, according to Flindall.

There are another 334 trees identified has “high priority,” which will be removed and replaced within the following three to five years. Another 430 trees were deemed low priority and will be removed at a later time.