Ottawa – As part of its commitment to protect Canada’s plant resource base from pests, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has put in place measures intended to protect Canada’s economy by preventing the spread of emerald ash borer (EAB) to non-infested areas of Canada. The CFIA has updated its regulated areas for EAB to include additional Regional County Municipalities (RCM) in Québec. This expansion is due to detections of EAB in 2022 and 2023 in Québec.
Preventing the spread of invasive species, like the emerald ash borer (EAB), is the best way to protect forests, native plants and forestry-related businesses. The regulated area now expands in northwestern Québec with the addition of the RCM Témiscamingue but also in eastern Québec with the addition of the following RCMs: Témiscouata, Rivière-du-Loup, Les Basques, Rimouski-Neigette, La Mitis, Matapédia and Avignon.
This means that ash material (such as logs, branches and woodchips) and all species of firewood cannot be moved outside the regulated area without permission from the CFIA. If you need to move ash material, please contact your local CFIA office to request written authorization.
Although the EAB poses no threat to human health, it is highly destructive to ash trees. It has already killed millions of ash trees in regulated areas in Canada and the United States, and poses a major economic and environmental threat to urban and forested areas of North America.
The CFIA will continue to survey and monitor the spread of this pest in eastern Quebec and northern New Brunswick and will consult federal, provincial, municipal and First Nations partners and other stakeholders in the near future on options to manage this pest in Eastern Canada. If you spot EAB outside regulated areas, report it to the CFIA to help stop the spread.