There's another pest threatening Ash trees in Manitoba and monitoring for the Emerald Ash Borer will be happening in communities across the Pembina Valley this summer.

E.A.B. is a highly destructive insect and first appeared in Winnipeg last year. There is no evidence of the invasive species so far in the Pembina Valley, however once detected, it cannot be eradicated.

Dan Gagne, Chief Administrative Officer for the Town of Altona, explained that the Province of Manitoba plans to set up one trap in the community this summer and noted the Town may add more to the mix.

"We want to make sure that we stay ahead of it," he said.

Gagne noted Town officials are quite concerned about the threat of E.A.B., pointing to statistics that show a community's canopy of Ash trees will be greatly reduced within a few years of detection.

 

In the City of Morden, Parks and Urban Forestry Manager Shawn Dias says there will be 10 traps set up this summer in conjunction with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

He explained these green prism traps will be set up largely in areas that contain Ash trees.

"Areas like our campground (and) near our industrial park where we see traffic coming in from outside the community...knowing that E.A.B. will travel (often) by firewood movement or hitch-hike onto a vehicle."

Meantime, the City has started to unroll its Ash Strategy that was developed to mitigate/prepare for an E.A.B. infestation.

Crews removed about 140 Ash trees that were in poor condition in late winter/early spring and Dias said they will be replaced with a non-Ash species in 2019. He added another 150 trees are slated for removal and replacement in 2019. Morden has just under 2,000 Ash trees on public property making up 37 percent of city-owned trees.

"It's sort of a proactive approach that we're taking knowing that E.A.B. is in the province, given the continuity of Ash across Manitoba and the large percentage of Ash trees in our community, we feel that we're at risk," said Dias.

He added that E.A.B. monitoring and detection is ongoing in Morden with 50 branch samples taken so far.

The City will also continue to engage the public in this effort. Two public information forums have already been held in order to raise awareness of the invasive species and how the public can help prevent an infestation.

 

As for the City of Winkler, the CFIA will be installing 6 traps throughout the city this summer and will rotate them to various locations over the next 2 years.

"We're very concerned, we have a lot of Ash trees," said Peter Froese, Director of Public Works and Operations. "We have sent our Arborist to some training, there's not much out there because so little is known about it (E.A.B.), but we're certainly on the lookout for it. Whenever there's a sick Ash tree we take a closer look than we used to," he explained.

Approximately 50 per cent, or 3,000, of Winkler's boulevard trees are Ash not including those that were privately planted.

 

Officials with all three communities urge campers visiting the area this summer not to import any firewood. Signs have also been posted in and around area campgrounds drawing attention to the risks of transporting firewood.

Meantime, the Town of Altona and Cities of Morden and Winkler continue to fight the impacts of a Cottony Psyllid aphid infestation that has already diminished Ash trees in the region. Crews continue to cycle through community-owned infected trees, replacing them with non-Ash species.