August 15, 2013
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed the presence of emerald ash borer (EAB) in Kawartha Lakes. The pest was discovered in Fenelon Falls.

The presence of EAB has now been confirmed in 32 Ontario counties, and in seven areas in the province of Quebec. It has already killed millions of ash trees in Ontario, Quebec and the U.S., 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 will 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, and the focus will now be placed on preventing EAB from moving out of the large consolidated area to areas where it is not currently known to be present.  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.