KINDLING Got the Bug


Banning transport of firewood outside the city By Pat Kerr


THE EMERALD ASH BORER (EAB) is slim, brilliant and timid and the male has a sexy Tom Selleck hairy chest. With no known chemicals or organics available to stop it in a park or forest setting, the EAB is an ash tree killing machine. Recently it has invaded the city of Toronto—east of Highway 404 along Sheppard Avenue. Last summer a natural resources em-


ployee happened to be in the area and no- ticed the tell tale signs of advanced EAB activity including early leaf colouring with- out wilting and epicormic shoots (growth from old wood). Murray Pink of the Canadian Food Inspec-


tion Agency said, like all EAB discoveries, this infestation is likely four to five years old. Although the EAB is an excellent flyer it is suspected that the infestation is the result of human activity and not a natural spread.


Legislation was passed this winter so it is


now illegal to move firewood and other ash products out of the city. All of Toronto is un- der the quarantine. This includes all forms of scrap wood used for campfires like wood pallets and scrub brush. Surveys revealed no other hot spots


around the outbreak. Investigations contin- ue in Vaughan and the outlying areas. Pink said, “The big concern is to slow the spread to the parks and recreational areas outside of the city. The public was supportive and respected the quarantine areas around Lon- don and Essex County.” When EAB was discovered in Ontario,


Toronto forestry started routine destruc- tive sampling for EAB and stopped planting ash. Specialists in EAB did all pruning and removal of ash trees but no EAB turned up. Richard Ubbens, a registered professional


Beautiful but deadly. PHOTO: CANADIAN FOREST SERVICE


forester and Director of Forestry for Toron- to said, “It is like looking for the proverbial needle in the hay stack.” Ubbens says, “This is not a tree level con-


cern it is about managing an entire resource.” Foresters in the U.S. are experiment-


ing with a bio-control solution—parisitoid wasps. But for now, campers need to pro- tect our parks by ensuring they don’t trans- port any firewood outside of Toronto.


Cooking with Gas


Keeping mini propane


canisters out of landfills By Pat Kerr


HISTORICALLY, around 60,000 one-pound, non-refillable propane containers had been dumped in Ontario provincial parks each year. With each one costing $2.50 for remov- al and recycling, the hazardous waste costs for the parks were out of control. Then the parks began asking guests to take their con- tainers home to their local hazardous waste depots. It worked and now they have only 15,000 green canisters or $37,500 per year to deal with. But the bigger issue was ignored. According to Stewardship Ontario, 1,250,000 camping-style, single-use propane canisters are sold annually in Ontario, with only 11 per cent getting recycled. Meanwhile 90 per cent of the larger barbeque-sized pro- pane canisters used in recreational vehicles are recycled after dozens of refills. Propane Expert Inc. believes they have a cheaper, inclusive solution. They operate a purchase and exchange program primarily for white barbeque propane containers in


major retailers like Loblaws and Home De- pot in Ontario, Canadian Tire in the western provinces and some Petro-Canada service centres, under the brand name PNE. David Larochelle of Propane Expert said, every year four million of the single-use contain- ers are sold in Canada and many find their way to the waste systems. These containers are made of high-grade


carbon steel but transportation depart- ments in Canada and the U.S. still consider them too thin to refill. They say they can rust on the inside. Theoretically you can buy an adapter in the U.S. and refill the containers but it is illegal to drive on Canadian roads with a refilled one-pound propane container in your vehicle. Propane Experts designed two new programs to comply with Ontario’s pro-


posed legislation. The first is an exchange system like returning beer bottles, but without the deposit fee. If you buy a PNE canister they will accept and recycle your used container of any brand. The second option is a 50 per cent lighter, see-through composite canister that allows consum- ers to see the propane level inside. It also melts instead of exploding if left too close to a fire or stove. When market conditions improve, Propane Experts hope it will also be recyclable. Stewardship Ontario wants to see 50 per


cent of the single use canisters being recy- cled within five years. Until policy or tech- nology improves campers should choose refillable fuel stoves or purchase adapters and use larger, refillable propane containers whenever possible.


FAMILY CAMPING 5


Not-too-green canister. PHOTO: ISTOCK/STARCEA SILVIU


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