City councillors seek ways to get ahead of pending ash borer invasion; St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

City councillors seek ways to combat emerald ash borer - St. Catharines Standard - Ontario, CA
Posted By Marlene Bergsma, Standard Staff
Updated 1 day ago

The emerald ash borer may already be lurking in St. Catharines — which has city councillors pondering potentially drastic ways to reduce its devastation.
“The likelihood that it’s in St. Catharines is very probable,” Allison Barr of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency told city councillors this week. “It’s just a matter of detecting it.”
Barr said since the destructive beetle was found in Welland earlier this month, it’s almost certainly here, too.
“Visual detection will be easier later in the summer, in July, August and September,” Barr said, when the rapid yellowing and dropping of leaves from infected trees will become visible.
That had Port Dalhousie Councillor Bruce Williamson and St. Patrick’s Coun. Mark Elliott asking city staff to investigate ways to combat the invasive pest.
Williamson asked staff to find out if a new insecticide being tested is effective and if it’s affordable.
Elliott suggested an even more drastic solution.
“There are some neighbourhoods planted entirely in ash,” Elliott said. “Should we wait, or should we remove some of the trees now?”