The City of Morden has developed a proactive approach in hopes of getting ahead of the emerald ash borer.
The invasive beetles attack and kill all species of ash trees and were confirmed to be in Winnipeg in December 2017.
Officials with Morden’s Parks and Urban Forestry Department believe it’s inevitable the pests will end up in Morden because of the number of ash trees in the community and the ease with which the beetle spreads.
Morden Mayor Ken Wiebe told CTV News it’s what prompted them to develop an “ash strategy”, in hopes of saving some of their trees.
“These kind of things can move fairly quickly, so we didn’t want to get caught by surprise,” said Wiebe.
According to city officials, Morden has roughly 5500 trees on public property, about 2000 of which are ash trees.
Shawn Dias, Morden’s manager of Parks and Urban Forestry, helped put together a 10 year plan to guide the city.
With three workers including Dias, the department has begun cutting down ash trees in poor condition that are more likely to be susceptible to EAB.
Dias told CTV News they plan to reduce the number of ash trees from nearly 2000 to roughly 750 over a decade.
“So our plan over 10 years is for the first three years remove about 150 trees per year, grind the stumps, and then go back and replant those trees,” said Dias.
In planting a tree for every tree taken down, Dias said the team would have the opportunity to map out a better variety for the city.
“So it’s really important for us, not just the species diversity, but the genus diversity,” said Dias. “So that we can plant different genus side by side to protect from future insect and disease problems.”
When EAB is discovered in the community, Dias said the plan is to inject some of the ash trees with an insecticide with the aim of saving them.
Currently, ash trees being cut down in poor condition are being repurposed, including into wood chips and firewood for the community.
The City of Morden is also considering offering free or inexpensive firewood at its campground this summer to try and discourage campers from bringing their own.
EAB is often spread when firewood is brought in from other places.
Meanwhile the City of Winnipeg continues to work to tackle the pests.
In an email to CTV News, a representative for the city wrote:
“Through the City’s EAB surveys, 13 boulevard and park ash trees were identified as being positive for EAB in the Archwood neighbourhood. These trees have now been removed. The City will be removing up to an additional 800 boulevard and park ash trees in 2018 in the Archwood neighbourhood and surrounding areas. Up to 1,000 public ash trees will be treated in select areas (to be determined) by trunk injection with a systemic insecticide in summer. Approximately 200 EAB monitoring traps will be installed in public ash trees in June to continue monitoring for adult EAB beetles.”
