With the first day of spring a month away, Baie-d’Urfé is offering its residents a peek of an emerald ash borer up close and personal.
This beetle has become a scourge across North America as it threatens all species of ash trees. Typically, the emerald ash borer emerges from trees in mid-May.
Baie-d’Urfe is inviting residents to town hall to check out a specimen that they obtained about two weeks ago following an information session for municipal officials. The idea is to allow homeowners to be in a better position to detect the insect more easily or to report an early occurrence.
While West Island municipalities have been on notice for about two years, the emerald ash borer was first detected in Canada about 12 years ago and is continuing to spread. It is expected the bug will have catastrophic effects on forests across North America as it destroys ash trees. The highly destructive beetle has already killed millions of ash trees in Ontario and the northeastern United States, prompting an ongoing directive from the federal government in 2012 that prohibits the movement of all ash tree materials and firewood from regulated areas, which includes all of Montreal, Laval and Longueuil.
The emerald ash borer, which probably came into Canada from Asia by hitching a ride on wood-packing material, can lay up to 275 eggs. Its larvae munches on ash trees under the bark before it becomes a pupa.
The Canadian Forest Service estimates that costs for treatment, removal and replacement of trees affected by the emerald ash borer may reach $2 billion over a 30-year period across the country.
For more information about the emerald ash borer, check your local city’s website.
Baie d’Urfé residents can call town hall at 514-457-7604.