What CVC is Doing on Its Properties
CVC owns and manages many properties throughout the watershed. CVC is currently undertaking a comprehensive ash tree assessment exercise to determine the location, health and liability risk for all ash trees along trails and boundaries. This information will help CVC plan for the safe management of ash trees based on their ecological significance and proximity to CVC facilities, infrastructure and trails.
CVC ash management consists of the following:
- On infected properties, CVC staff will remove infested ash trees that cannot be saved and pose a risk to people and infrastructure along trails and boundaries.
- Removed trees are recycled by CVC for other uses. CVC will utilize wood or wood chips where possible and leave some felled trees for forest health purposes (downed woody debris).
- CVC will inject select ash trees with the bio-insecticide, TreeAzin, to inoculate still healthy ash trees against EAB.
- In areas where trees are removed, CVC will pursue an aggressive invasive plant removal strategy.
- CVC will initiate a comprehensive restoration plan which incorporates a tree planting campaign to help the conservation area forests recover as quickly as possible.
- CVC will then monitor all activities for ongoing forest management purposes.
CVC’s facilities and conservation areas will stay open, but certain trails and areas may be restricted during tree removal. Certain areas where trees are removed will be replanted with alternative native tree species.
Potential Bio-control
Control Options
Few large scale options are currently available to combat this invasive pest. A long-term management experiment that utilizes bio-controls is currently being studied by the Canadian Forest Service (CFS) and Natural Resources Canada (NRC). The EAB bio-controls being studied are predators from the borer’s country of origin which have been imported from Asia specifically to target and feed on EAB. CFS and NRC with permission from Credit Valley Conservation, have deployed these bio-controls for EAB at Silver Creek Conservation Area. In 2014, the wasp bio-control was released, called Tetrastichis planipennisi. The wasp cannot sting humans but can sting EAB larvae under the bark and inject eggs into the larvae to devour them from the inside. The wasp was re-released in 2015 along with another bio-control, called Oobius agrili. The Oobius agrili is another parasitic wasp that similarly cannot sting humans but can sting individual EAB eggs and inject its larvae into the egg to devour from the inside. The pilot project is slated to last for several years and intended to study the bio-control effects and success rate. Results will not be available for some time.
Pesticide Control
TreeAzin is an environmentally safe bio-insecticide treatment that helps protect healthy ash trees from EAB infestation. Formulated with azadirachtin, an extract from Neem tree seeds, TreeAzin can provide two years of control against EAB.
In 2014, CVC with the help of donations injected over 160 trees with TreeAzin. CVC will continue this course of treatment and add additional trees over the next 10 year period.
Note: CVC currently injects Ash trees at eight of its properties but no privately owned properties. CVC does not currently inject privately owned trees with TreeAzin.