Ash trees on the property have fallen victim to the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), an invasive beetle native to Northeastern Asia that was first discovered in Ontario in 2002. Females lay eggs in bark crevices on ash trees, and larvae feed underneath the bark of ash trees to emerge as adults in one to two years.
The impact to us is that we have a grove of ash trees in the back centre area of the property that had died off due to the EAB. Some of the ash trees towered at 80 - 90 feet and these needed to be cut down, chopped up and removed. This called for lumberjack skills with chainsaws and long guide ropes to pull the trees in the right direction once “Timber!” was called.
Another tree maintenance job involved an ancient White Pine at the back of the property, which stands over 150 ft in height with a base diameter of around 48 inches. White Pines can live from 200 to 450 years and the size of ours would place it within this range. During the winter a massive branch located about 30 feet from the ground had partially snapped off and needed to be removed. The concern was that its enormous weight pulling forward to the ground could become detrimental to the stability of the rest of the tree. Fast forward to Ray going “out on a limb” way up in the tree to cut off the snapped branch - see pictures in the gallery below.
Trees have been ordered to fill in some of the spaces left by the dead ash trees, as well as to form a boundary along the eastern edge of the property. This will be a project for the summer of 2023.
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