The City is looking to reduce its use of pesticides, focusing on prevention instead.
Integrated Pest Management Coordinator Jim Donnelly says they’ve prepared a pest management plan that’s meant to reduce the need for pest control in the city.
“It points out a number of things that we recommend doing. There’s a lot of science that we have to do yet to progress along the direction we want to go, which is more towards ensuring that our urban forest is healthy enough to put up with insects, rather than going and spraying the tree itself.”
Among the recommendations is introducing more native plants, which have natural pest control.
“Let’s face it: plants are habitat for insects; that’s just the way it’s always been and it’s not normally a problem. However, you do get pest outbreaks when the ecosystem doesn’t really have the checks and balances that a natural one would have.”
Donnelly now wants to get the public’s feedback on the plan.
It is posted on the City’s website, with comments accepted until the end of the week.