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Plants > Plant Pests > Emerald Ash Borer

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Emerald Ash Borer - Agrilus planipennis

Adult specimen of the Emerald Ash Borer - David Cappaert, Michigan State University

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The emerald ash borer (EAB) is a highly destructive insect that attacks and kills ash trees. Native to eastern Asia, EAB was first discovered in Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan in 2002.

The EAB has killed millions of ash trees in Southwestern Ontario, Michigan and surrounding states, and poses a major economic and environmental threat to urban and forested areas in both countries. The EAB attacks and kills all species of ash, except Mountain ash which is not a true ash. 

Once EAB infests an ash tree, the larvae feed just under the bark, creating S-shaped galleries, which disrupt transport of water and nutrients within the tree. This damage can kill a healthy tree in as quickly as two years. Adult beetles typically begin to emerge in May and move on to infest the same tree or a nearby ash tree. With this type of natural spread, EAB would spread only a few kilometres each year. But with artificial spread, where people move infested ash materials and firewood to new areas, EAB can quickly spread to other areas of Canada.

EAB is strictly regulated as a plant pest under the Plant Protection Act. Federal Ministerial Orders prohibit the movement of specific materials including any ash material and firewood of all species from: Essex County, the Municipality of Chatham-Kent, Lambton County, Elgin County, Middlesex County, Norfolk County and the City of Toronto. Anyone violating these restrictions is subject to a fine and/or prosecution.

Some properties are also under specific quarantine measures and property owners have been notified that they cannot remove regulated materials from their properties without written permission from the CFIA.

EAB has also recently been confirmed in Ontario in the municipality of Bluewater and in Pickering, Sault Ste. Marie, Vaughan, Ottawa, Mississauga  Brampton, Oakville, and in the Montéregie region of Quebec. 

Slowing the spread of EAB will protect Canada's environment and forest resources. It also helps keep international markets open to the forest industry and nurseries in non-infested parts of Ontario and Quebec and in the rest of Canada.

Help slow the spread of the emerald ash borer in Canada. Learn more about the CFIA's Don't Move Firewood campaign and movement restrictions currently in place.

For more information on the emerald ash borer, please call 1-866-463-6017.

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