March 2008
To spray or not to spray?
Much of my journalism career was spent in the B.C. Interior, where I was treated to the dubious honour of watching a miniscule critter kill millions of trees with impunity. It was truly a shock to drive into an affected watershed and see the patches of grey amid a sea of red – and realize that where there was green near that red, those trees were already dead but didn’t know it yet.
I’m sure that at some point the foresters who were doing their utmost to keep the mountain pine beetle from spreading would have happily hired an air tanker full of something nasty that would wipe out the bugs with one quick spray, but in my interviews with them, it was very rare to hear anyone mention the word “pesticide.” Instead, they sought out biochemical techniques, innovative treatments, or fell back on the old faithful method of harvesting trees that were marketable and cutting and burning those that weren’t. With the pine beetle, there aren’t many options.
That kind of thinking is the norm these days, though. I recall when a great firestorm arose around Vancouver after a decision was made to spray parts of the city from the air to combat Asian gypsy moths – indeed, I remember watching the plane fly over while I was attending university there... which might explain a few things, I suppose. If that were proposed today, there would likely be a very public lynching of the person making the suggestion. In fact, many municipalities now have legislation in place curtailing the use of pesticides; the Sierra Club of Canada says more than 120 communities now have pesticide reduction bylaws in place. Some, like Vancouver, have limitations on when pesticides can be used, while others such as Halifax have a blanket ban on use for municipal or home treatments.
Battles like those fought in B.C. against the gypsy moth don’t often occur in the urban areas; the pine beetle is mostly in the vast forests of central and northern B.C. But southern Ontario is facing a fight as the emerald ash borer – a tiny boring insect originating in Asia that attacks the ash trees that range far and wide across the region – moves in from the United States. Ottawa issued a quarantine on Toronto in mid-February after ash borers were found in a small stand of trees, according to the Globe and Mail; it is one of seven areas in Ontario that are under the interdiction against moving untreated ash products and any kind of firewood to other areas. Politicians are demanding action against the pest, to ensure that ash forest products can continue to cross the border into the United States.
Here’s the problem: nobody’s really figured out a good way to stop the spread of this voracious little critter (sound familiar, central B.C.?) other than chopping down the forests it’s found in and chipping all the wood along with the bugs. Some pesticides might help in controlling the ash borer; a request was made in January for quick approval of an insecticide made from a tree grown in India, and research in Michigan has turned up a chemical with nearly 100 percent effectiveness. The question to be asked might be whether there are ways to combat the beetle using biological methods (the same study in Michigan has turned up some good results using a tiny wasp), or whether it may just be required to step away from the dislike of pesticide use if it’s necessary to save Ontario’s forests.
I’m sure that at some point the foresters who were doing their utmost to keep the mountain pine beetle from spreading would have happily hired an air tanker full of something nasty that would wipe out the bugs with one quick spray, but in my interviews with them, it was very rare to hear anyone mention the word “pesticide.” Instead, they sought out biochemical techniques, innovative treatments, or fell back on the old faithful method of harvesting trees that were marketable and cutting and burning those that weren’t. With the pine beetle, there aren’t many options.
That kind of thinking is the norm these days, though. I recall when a great firestorm arose around Vancouver after a decision was made to spray parts of the city from the air to combat Asian gypsy moths – indeed, I remember watching the plane fly over while I was attending university there... which might explain a few things, I suppose. If that were proposed today, there would likely be a very public lynching of the person making the suggestion. In fact, many municipalities now have legislation in place curtailing the use of pesticides; the Sierra Club of Canada says more than 120 communities now have pesticide reduction bylaws in place. Some, like Vancouver, have limitations on when pesticides can be used, while others such as Halifax have a blanket ban on use for municipal or home treatments.
Battles like those fought in B.C. against the gypsy moth don’t often occur in the urban areas; the pine beetle is mostly in the vast forests of central and northern B.C. But southern Ontario is facing a fight as the emerald ash borer – a tiny boring insect originating in Asia that attacks the ash trees that range far and wide across the region – moves in from the United States. Ottawa issued a quarantine on Toronto in mid-February after ash borers were found in a small stand of trees, according to the Globe and Mail; it is one of seven areas in Ontario that are under the interdiction against moving untreated ash products and any kind of firewood to other areas. Politicians are demanding action against the pest, to ensure that ash forest products can continue to cross the border into the United States.
Here’s the problem: nobody’s really figured out a good way to stop the spread of this voracious little critter (sound familiar, central B.C.?) other than chopping down the forests it’s found in and chipping all the wood along with the bugs. Some pesticides might help in controlling the ash borer; a request was made in January for quick approval of an insecticide made from a tree grown in India, and research in Michigan has turned up a chemical with nearly 100 percent effectiveness. The question to be asked might be whether there are ways to combat the beetle using biological methods (the same study in Michigan has turned up some good results using a tiny wasp), or whether it may just be required to step away from the dislike of pesticide use if it’s necessary to save Ontario’s forests.
Lee Toop
