July 15, 2013
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced on June 21 it had detected the emerald ash borer (EAB) in Arnprior, Renfrew County and in Northumberland County, near Roseneath and in Cornwall and South Mountain in the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry.

Movement restrictions of all ash materials, such as logs, branches and wood chips, and all species of firewood from the affected site, are in place. Owners of the affected properties will be
notified of these restrictions. Further regulatory measures will be considered once all survey work has been completed for the year.

The presence of EAB has now been confirmed in 30 Ontario counties, and in seven areas in the province of Quebec. EAB has already killed millions of ash trees in Ontario, Quebec and the United States, and poses a major economic and environmental threat to urban and forested areas of North America.

On April 1, 2014, the Agency will consolidate most of the regulated areas into one large area in Ontario and Quebec. This large area will include Highways 400, 401, 416 and 417 in Ontario and Highways 15, 20, 40 and 50 in Quebec.

This approach takes into account the CFIA’s current understanding of the distribution of EAB and should more effectively slow the spread of this pest to other parts of these provinces and to the rest of Canada.

The agency will continue its surveillance, regulatory, enforcement and communications activities across Canada, but a strong focus will be placed on the outer edge of the large consolidated area, where EAB has not currently been detected. The remainder of 2013 will be a transition to this new approach.

Also, as part of the long term strategy to manage EAB, the CFIA has approved the release of two stingless wasps as new biological control agents to combat the spread of EAB. One wasp that has now been released in limited areas in southwestern Ontario by Natural Resources Canada is Tetrastichus planipennisi.