With Winnipeg’s ash trees at risk, what can be done to save the canopy?

Winnipeg is at risk of losing all its ash trees after the emerald ash borer beetle was detected late in 2017, but an American company says they could hold the key to saving some of the canopy.

Arborjet sells a chemical compound that gets injected into ash trees to protect them from the pest.

The beetle eats away at the tree, cutting off its supply of nutrients and in the end killing it. According to the City of Winnipeg, the preventative injections need to be administered every one to two years and cost $300 to $500 per treatment per tree.

Joe Aiken from Arborjet said the injections have a great success rate if trees are treated early.

“We are treating the tree from the inside out,” he said.

“If you treat a tree in the early stages of infestation, it could be as great as 99.9 per cent effective. If we wait and let the trees become infested, the vascular system of the tree [has] already been compromised and the percentage goes down.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "If you treat a tree in the early stages of infestation, it could be as great as 99.9 per cent effective. If we wait and let the trees become infested, the vascular system of the tree [has] already been compromised and the percentage goes down."

There are about 101,000 ash trees on boulevards and parks and about 256,385 ash trees on private properties across the city.

The beetle was found in St. Boniface, but it is spread by people — mainly people moving firewood, nursery stock, trees, logs, lumber, wood or bark chips. The beetle can also fly several kilometers.

About 30 per cent of trees in parks and boulevards are ash trees.

A recent report from the city says Winnipeg will spend $90 million over the next 10 years managing the dead trees on city property, while an additional $15 million will be spent managing the wood waste from the tree removals.

Here is a list of the top five neighbourhoods in Winnipeg with the most ash trees in boulevards and parks:

River Park South: 2,880
Dakota Crossing:  2,650
Tyndall Park: 2,560
Linden Woods: 2,550
Richmond West: 2,400

More information about the ash borer beetle is available on the city’s website.