Why the city is cutting down trees on Wellington St.

GlobalNews.ca
Aug. 21, 2014
James Armstrong  

The city recently cut down several ash trees along Wellington Street, leaving just the marred stumps poking up from the concrete.

The city says the emerald ash borer, an invasive bug believed to be rampant throughout the city, forced them to cut the trees which lined Wellington Street outside of the CBC building.

City of Toronto statistics suggest there are approximately 860,000 ash trees across Toronto – all of which are at risk of dying from the invasive pest.

The city expects most ash trees to die as a result of the pest between 2015 and 2017 and has implemented a plan to mitigate the impact of the emerald ash borer which includes removing dead or dying ash trees.

The dead trees on Wellington Street are just some of the thousands of trees across the province damaged by the pest.

The beetles move into the tree and effectively strangle it, prohibiting it from harvesting nutrients or water.

A 2013 report from the Canadian Forest Service estimated the cost of treating, removing and replacing ash trees across Canada could reach nearly $2 billion over 30 years.