THUNDER BAY — With the city ramping up the removal of trees infested by the emerald ash borer, the mayor’s office is inundated with calls about stump removal.
Emerald ash borer is an invasive beetle that has destroyed millions of ash trees across North America.
“Is that up to the property owner, or do they carve it out and put a planter in, or what’s the remnant aftereffect?” Mayor Ken Boshcoff asked city staff at the quality of life standing meeting last Tuesday.
Acting commissioner of infrastructure and operations, Cory Halvorsen, said the city is responsible for stump removal. There are a few different approaches, he explained, but the most cost-efficient way is to remove them as they are planting new trees.
“So, we’re trying to do that wherever we can, so that there will be an immediate dealing with the stump in that location,” he said.
Halvorsen said they do have a bit of a backlog on removing the stumps, but the park department is starting to make some headway.
“We do try our best to plant as soon as possible. Certainly, things have changed more quickly this past year, so going forward, we will try to replant as soon as possible. It is a process. Maybe within a year or two, hopefully we can achieve those replacements,” Aaron Brecka, the city’s urban forester, said.
Coun. Andrew Foulds said the ash borer inserts itself into the tree’s cambium and creates the channels.
He asked if the bugs get into the stump, why are the stumps not removed?
“I think each situation may be different depending on the amount of insects in each individual tree. The removal of the tree, I think, primarily is to remove the hazard that has the potential to form. I think we’re at the stage of the infestation where there’s an abundance of emerald ash borer. And the stump will be removed as quickly as we can remove it, but certainly throughout the city there is the insect at large,” Brecka said.
Foulds then asked if the parks department notifies neighbourhoods when infected trees will be removed.
“The situation we found ourselves in is that we didn’t have a lot of ability to consult and make major changes in our approaches. It’s very much been based on efficiencies of removals in alignment with the conditions of the trees that we’re seeing,” Halvorsen said.
He added the city does inform the neighbourhoods of the changes to their area.
“Some of these neighbourhoods have had these trees for a long time, and I mean clearly, we have to get rid of them because of the hazard. The more communication we can do, the fewer phone calls we may get, and I think generally speaking, people understand. They just need to know,” Foulds said.
