The national capital and the 500,000 ash trees on its territory are “in the heart of the storm” blown by the borer, says Christian Bélanger, environmental advisor for the City of Quebec. To deal with this Asian beetle ravaging the forests of North America, the City will even have to fell by 2032 a third of the 120,000 ash trees located in its municipal woodlots.
With almost no predators on the continent, endowed with exceptional resistance to our winters and capable of proliferating at a staggering speed, the emerald ash borer can, from the moment it attacks a tree in full health, cause it to die. within three years.
The threat hits Quebec hard. The national capital has nearly half a million ash trees on its territory, 132,000 of which are on land owned by the municipality. Of these, 12,000 are located in towns and the remaining 120,000 in wooded areas.
To date, chainsaws have felled about 40% of the ash trees planted in urban areas, or 5,000 trees. Two thousand more will also have to be cut over the next few years to curb the progression of the parasite, according to Mr. Bélanger. The expert presented the situation to the elected officials of Quebec, Thursday morning, during a plenary assembly on the question.
The City plans to cut down 40,000 trees located in its municipal woodlots as part of its fight against the borer. The Les Rivières borough, where 60% of the condemned ash trees are located, will suffer most of these cuts.
Quebec seeks to minimize the impact of this felling campaign on the municipal canopy and undertakes to plant a tree for each ash tree sacrificed. By 2029, the City therefore plans to plant 130,000 trees.
However, the majority of ash trees likely to fuel the proliferation of the borer are found on private land. The City of Quebec has put in place support, in particular financial, to assist owners in the felling of trees located on their plot. In all, private lands in Quebec are home to 326,000 ash trees.
Started in 2017 after the discovery of a larva of the pest insect in the Montcalm district, the campaign to contain the advance of the emerald ash borer costs the capital an average of 3 million dollars a year, indicated Stéphan Buguay , director of prevention and environmental quality at the City of Quebec. Ultimately, this fight will cost $45 million — three times the amount originally planned.