HALIFAX -- The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says it has confirmed the presence of an invasive, tree-destroying beetle in Nova Scotia.
The CFIA says the finding of the emerald ash borer at a site in Bedford is a first for the province, which is outside the areas currently regulated for the beetle in Canada.
The emerald ash borer was also detected in New Brunswick earlier this year after doing significant damage to ash trees in certain areas of Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba.
The CFIA says more survey work is being done to determine whether the pest has become established in the area where it was found and whether it has spread.
It says the movement of all ash material such as logs, branches, and woodchips, and all species of firewood from the affected site has been restricted.
Although the emerald ash borer poses no threat to human health, 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 says it is continuing work to slow the spread of this pest.
Friday's confirmation comes after an alert was issued in May about the beetle's arrival in the Maritimes by the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
An official with the organization in New Brunswick said an emerald ash borer had been discovered in Edmundston, N.B., and she warned that while the beetle doesn't fly far on its own, it will hide in firewood or nursery stock that can be transported.
The emerald ash borer is a non-native beetle that is originally from Asia. Its presence in Canada was first confirmed in 2002.
Five of Canada's ash species have been listed as critically endangered because of the emerald ash borer.
