By Kevin Woodhouse
www.thesuburban.com
Having been detected within the territory of Dorval last August and with Baie d’Urfé, recording four infestations last year, both city administrations passed a new bylaw at its most recent council meeting to combat the emerald ash borer (EAB).
For Dorval, a half-million dollars will be set aside to “to preserve and treat every ash tree in the municipality that meets certain eligibility requirements, thus representing between 8,000-10,000 trees,” explained spokesperson Sebastien Gauthier.
The money will be used to plant new trees within the municipality as well as continuing the subsidy for residents “treating ash trees located on private property.”
The subsidy would offset half of the cost of treating any damaged trees found on public property up to a total of $1,500, as long as treatment is carried out within the expected time frame from June 15-Aug. 31.
“In order to assess the situation related to the EAB, an inventory of all private trees will be undertaken between May-August 2015,” noted Gauthier. “Technicians will be visiting Dorval homes, and residents are asked to please cooperate with them, by allowing them access to all of trees on private property.”
For Baie d’Urfé, residents with ash trees on their properties can expect to get 50 per cent in financial aid from the city for the treatment of the TreeAzin biopesticide for a maximum of $250 per ash tree. Overall, the city has a little more than 6,000 ash trees with 55 percent of those trees found on private land.
More than 10 per cent of Baie d’Urfé homeowners have more than five ash trees on their property. The financial help will only be for the first treatment but ash trees need to be treated every two years in order to be effective.
For residents who wish to cut down ash trees, the city will help with half of the cost at a maximum of $125 per tree. Residents who cut ash trees down are encouraged to plant new trees to replace what will be lost. Over the next half decade, the city will be offering trees to its residents for planting.
Ash trees found in parks and other public areas will either be treated with TreeAzin or a new tree will be planted with some trees to be cut down.
To explain to residents about the upcoming EAB strategies, Baie d’Urfé will hold a number of public information sessions.
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