By Paul Choi / Canadian Press / Sunday, August 14, 2005
TORONTO -- As forest officials slowly manage to contain one invasive beetle species, another pesky bug continues to run roughshod over Ontario's trees.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the Asian long-horned beetle, a shiny black bug that feeds on hardwood trees, has been contained.
"The population hasn't grown over the year,'' says food agency spokesman Howard Stanley.
"In fact, these may be the remains of the original 2003 population.''
About 7,000 infected trees will be cut down in the Toronto area in an attempt to contain and eliminate the last remaining insects, a group of which was first found burrowing into area trees two years ago.
Stanley said he was optimistic the species could be eradicated from the province within the next several years.
But even as federal officials gain the upper hand on the Asian long-horned beetle, another beetle infestation threatens to spread out of the province.
"The ash borer has been more problematic,'' said Barry Lyons, a research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service.
"It's over a much wider area so we're really battling it on a number of fronts.''
Unlike the Asian long-horned beetle, which is localized in and around the Toronto area, the emerald ash borer has been spotted all over southwestern Ontario -- mainly around wooded areas in Windsor and Chatham.
The tiny green bug, which is originally from eastern Asia, is also threatening trees south of the border in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.
"In Ontario and areas in the (United States) the ash borer has probably killed millions of trees,'' said Lyons, who estimates about 12 million trees have been downed by the pest since its introduction to North America in 2002.
While there is no accurate monetary value attached to the loss, Lyons said the impact on the forestry industry and the environment has been huge.
"This particular insect is just an incredibly aggressive tree killer,'' he said.
According to the CFIA website, the ash borer does its main damage by burrowing into the trunks of ash trees, which are found in wooded areas and re-planted in cities for their aesthetic and environmental qualities.
After burrowing, the insect lays eggs in the bark which spawn larvae that eats away at the bark, disrupts movement of water and nutrients, and ultimately kills the tree.
Over the past year, the Canadian Forest Service and the food agency have been taking the same steps they've taken against the Asian long-horned beetle in the hopes of understanding the ash borer and slowing its spread, Lyons said.
"We're trying the whole arsenal of things that we've used on other insects and finding the most effective ones we'd use against the emerald ash borer,'' he said.
Introducing natural predators and removing infected trees are all solutions officials have tried with some success.
"Part of the problem with the emerald ash borer is that we don't have good detection tools,'' Lyons said.
"We don't have a lure that will attract it to a trap, so it's very difficult to know where exactly the insects are. And if you don't know where they are, it is very difficult to regulate the areas.''
Adding to the problem is the fact that the insect doesn't travel in large swarms, which makes them even harder to detect, Lyons said.
The good news, however, is that there have been no substantiated reports of either the Asian long-horned beetle or the emerald ash borer in the rest of Canada, he said.
But the potential that these two species could spread outside Ontario is definitely there.
"It has the potential to be a huge national problem,'' Lyons said. "If we don't do something now, then the problem will be out of hand and we'll lose some very valuable natural resources.''
To prevent further spreading of both insects, the CFIA has set up several regulated areas in affected zones to prevent people from transporting wood infected by the dangerous beetles, Stanley said.
Doing this is key, Lyons said, as both the ash borer and the long-horned beetle were likely first transported to North America after they burrowed into wooden shipping crates and packaging materials.
"The biggest problem with some of these wood-boring insects is that once they've become established some place, people inadvertently move wood material around, like firewood,'' he said. "This is how much of the spread occurs.'' (*)
