An adult ash borer. The tree-killing bug has now been found in Toronto. (Photo courtesy of the Michigan Department of Agriculture)
Since arriving in North America in the 1990’s, the emerald ash borer
has largely been contained to the upper Midwest. But now scientists say
the destructive beetle is spreading. Noah Ovshinsky has more:
Transcript
Since arriving in North America in the 1990’s, the emerald ash borer
has largely been contained to the upper Midwest. But now scientists say
the destructive beetle is spreading. Noah Ovshinsky has more:
Since the emerald ash bore arrived, the pest has killed more than 20
million ash trees in North America. Canada has by and large been spared
with infestations confined to the extreme southwest of Ontario.
Now, Canadian officials say the bug has traveled more than two hundred
miles to Toronto. Scientists don’t know how many trees have been
infested. Ken Marchant is an ash borer expert with the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency:
“It can be in a tree at undetectable levels and be quit heavy and then
the tree dies and so it’s incredibly difficult to detect at low levels.
Nothing has changed, there’s no traps for it and really no effective
way of surveying for it with any great accuracy.”
The ash borer has now spread across southern Ontario and six states.
For the Environment Report, this is Noah Ovshinsky.