Trees starting to fall victim to Emerald Ash Borer

In the southern portions of the Dufferin Hi-Land section of The Bruce Trail, volunteers are starting to see heavy damage caused by Emerald Ash Borer and increased deadfall is expected in the coming years.
Foresters like Graeme Davis, with the County of Simcoe, are now seeing mass mortality caused by Emerald Ash Borer.
The invasive insect’s presence has been known for close to a decade but the devastation is now widespread and quite visible. He said the good thing is that other types of tree aren’t impacted by the insect.
Emerald Ash Borer larva choke the tree and kill it, causing it to fall. The large burrows beneath the bark of the tree cutting off the nutrients moisture flow. A distinctive serpentine pattern can be seen under the bark.
“This insect is a nasty one,” said Davis. “The level of mortality is extremely high.”
“The majority of our ash trees, when they reach a certain size, they simply don’t seem to have any immunity against the Emerald Ash Borer,” said Davis.
The hope is that the species will have a comeback as Emerald Ash Borer populations start to level off. This happens as the insect kills more trees, in addition to natural pathogens that are catching up with the bug and the use of bio controls.
Some ash trees are being protected, with treatment, and there are lots of young ash saplings growing on the forest floor.
“The likelihood is that we will have very few ash trees for quite some time, certainly mature ash trees, but the hope is that there will be an equilibrium that will be reached in the future so that we’ll have a bit of a comeback. The expectation is that Emerald Ash Borer will be here to stay but it will be hopefully much less devastating than it has been this time around,” said Davis.
Dufferin Hi-Land Bruce Trail Club communications director Melina Cormier said the club has already started to plant new trees in locations where they expect to lose a significant number of ash trees.