City Crews Tear Down Pest-Affected Trees On Main Street

Ash trees along Main Street are being torn up by city crews this week, but fear not, the foliage will be replaced.

According to Chris Freund, twelve ash trees growing along the popular sidewalk fell victim to cottony ash psyllid a few years back and are no longer accomplishing their intended purpose of beautifying the area.

“These trees on Main Street are experiencing die-back and, if half of the tree is gone, that is not what you want to see,” details Freund.

Manitoba Sustainable Development defines cottony ash psyllid as an invasive insect that lays its eggs in ash trees. When the eggs hatch, the nymphs feed on the greenery and suck out tree sap which causes the leaves to curl and produce a white cotton-like substance.

While a handful of other trees across the city also show past signs of the pest, Freund says it is primarily concentrated along Main.

“Because we have a density of ash trees here, they just kind of hop from one to the next,” he says of the insects. He adds all badly affected trees will be replaced by American elm.

There are reports coming from Winnipeg suggesting that the cottony ash psyllid are again active but Freund says no signs have yet been seen in Steinbach. He hopes it stays that way as the ongoing dry conditions mean trees are especially susceptible to disease and pestilence.

Meanwhile, small green signs featuring the emerald ash borer can be seen hanging from healthy ash trees on Main Street. Freund says the notices do not imply that the trees are ill in any way and are simply there to raise awareness of the highly destructive beetle.

“It is invasive species awareness week here in Manitoba so that kind of encompasses all different invasive species in all categories," he explains, "so we put these on some of the ash trees here just to bring attention to the emerald ash borer.”

For now, he says the emerald ash borer is also confined to the city of Winnipeg and does not pose a threat in Steinbach.