The emerald ash borer (EAB) has spread its unrelenting assault on ash trees across Montreal, said officials. Starting from Beaconsfield in the west to Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve in the east, the insect's devastating effect on ash trees can be seen easily.

Now federal and municipal officials through joint effort are planning to halt the spread of the EAB in Montreal using biological control methods which would include deadly fungi-baited traps and parasitic non-stinging wasps.

Dr. Robert Lavallée, an entomologist and research scientist with the Canadian Forestry Service who is part of a joint federal and municipal effort said two wasp-release sites have been set up in Montreal at the Botanical Gardens and Bois-de-Liesse nature park.

Lavallée said he along with the team has inspected more than half the 200 traps he set in a handful of Montreal boroughs. He recently found three traps in Ahuntsic-Cartierville containing some 600 beetles.

"It was amazing. I've never seen such high numbers, but I have to say this is the first time I was in this area. If I had put my traps last year I could have collected maybe 1,000 beetles", he said.

He further said that one don't need to be a research scientist to know what will happen next in Ahuntsic-Cartierville and wherever else EAB infestations occur.

Most of the dying trees will be cut, said Lavallée. Major impacts will be seen in Rue Pasteur as people there have nice bungalows and houses with big, big ash trees, which will be cut down.

Lavallée said the introduction of classical bio-control methods will help to control the spread of the beetle to a major extent. But it will take at least 10 to 15 years to contain the beetle using bio-control methods, Lavallée said.