The city and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency are investigating an infestation of the Emerald Ash Borer in the St. Laurent Boulevard and Montreal Road area.
The insect can affect walnut or elm trees. Its main target, however, is the ash. That's a huge concern for Ottawa considering that variety of tree makes up one quarter of the city's canopy.
"By tunnelling through the cambium, it's cutting all the flow of nutrients the tree needs to survive and that's how it kills the tree eventually," said Nima Ait Oumejjout of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
The pest has decimated the ash population in the U.S. It is an invasive insect and has shown that is aggressive in Canada, according to Oumejjout.
The first Canadian cases were seen in Windsor in 2002. Since then, it has killed hundreds of thousands of trees in southern Ontario alone.
"We're still gauging how large of an area and what timelines we're working with," David Barkley forestry services program manager for the City of Ottawa. "The beetle itself comes from Asia. It probably traveled over here on ash products through shipping."
Authorities are asking the public not to move firewood in Ottawa, which is the pests' main travel method.
"There is hope, there's a lot of research going on detection and control tools. At this point, there is no efficacious tools that we have," said Oumejjout.
If you believe your Ash tree is infested, please call the Canadian Food Inspection Agency or the city.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Jonathan Rotondo
Have you noticed your trees are affected? Have your say by leaving a comment below.
