September 28, 2018 – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has updated its regulated areas for emerald ash borer (EAB) twice in the last week, first to include a part of Nova Scotia and then an expanded area in New Brunswick, in an effort to slow the insect’s spread.
The EAB has been detected in Bedford, Nova Scotia, and was confirmed in the city of Edmundston, New Brunswick, earlier this year.
The new regulated area in New Brunswick now consists of the county of Madawaska, excluding the municipality of Grand Falls.
Effective immediately, the movement of ash materials, including logs, branches and woodchips, and all species of firewood from the affected areas is restricted. Moving untreated firewood is a common way for invasive insects and diseases to spread.
Those who do need to move wood out of the EAB regulated areas must contact their local CFIA office to request written authorization.
According to the CFIA, although the EAB poses no threat to human health, it is highly destructive to ash trees. The insect is native to China and eastern Asia, and its presence in Canada was first confirmed in 2002. It has already killed millions of ash trees in regulated areas in Canada and the United States, and poses a major economic and environmental threat to urban and forested areas of North America.
Prior to the new detection in Nova Scotia, the EAB was known to be present only in certain areas of New Brunswick, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. Officials expect the EAB to make its way to Fredricton, New Brunswick. Affected areas are regulated by the CFIA to protect Canada’s forests, municipal trees and nurseries.
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