Prince Edward County Council received some suggestions on how to battle the infestation of the Emerald Ash Borer at its Committee of the Whole meeting on Thursday.
Arborist Jennifer Gagne told councillors that the green beetle responsible for the decline of several varieties of ash trees around the province has been identified in the County.
She noted that there has been a severe decline and mortality of ash trees especially around Demorestville.
Gagne says there are several ways municipalities can minimize the impact on trees.
“Producing a management plan, launching an awareness campaign, looking for the insect in places where we don’t know it is. Inventorying all the trees or specifically ash trees if that’s the goal, just so we know what’s there. And then from there you can figure out how to manage it and how much things will cost.”
County CAO Marcia Wallace did tell council that the municipality is addressing the issue through some of its current environmental measures.
“What we have done is made an expression of interest to a federal program called Two-Billion Trees. And we believe, if successful later this year, that will allow us some funding to start taking some action in the ash space.”
The Emerald Ash Borer arrived here from Asia in 1990s likely via wood packaging material and was first detected in the Windsor area in 2002.
