Brown Spruce Longhorn beetle turns up in Lunenburg
Posted Nov 27, 2011 07:26:17 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A beetle blamed for devastating parts of Halifax’s Point Pleasant Park has shown up in and around the Lunenburg area.
The Chronicle Herald reports the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has told the town not to move any spruce logs, bark or wood chips off on nine properties the town owns on the outskirts of town because the brown spruce longhorn beetle has been found in traps there.
Mayor Laurence Mawhinney tells the paper the town was completely taken aback by the notices.
The city will discuss the issue at council this week, but at this point there’s no indication what the invasion means for residents.
The beetle is a serious threat to forests in North America, particularly because it kills healthy spruce trees, as well as feeding on dead and dying trees.
It first turned up in North America at Point Pleasant Park in Halifax in 1999 and has since been found in Victoria, Kings and Lunenburg counties.
