Wasps released in Ontario to fight emerald ash borer

They're so tiny you can hardly see thembut these little waspsmay be the answer to saving the ash tree population in Ontario.

The federal government has approved the controlled releaseof twonearly identicalspecies of wasp thatfeed on the eggs and larva of the emerald ash borer. The waspsdo not have stingers and are around the size of a piece of sand.

The wasps come from Chinawhere they feed off the emerald ash borer.The hope is intime the wasps will put a significant dent in the emerald ash borer population toallow ash trees to survive.

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According to Barry Lyons, a forest entomologist withNatural Resources Canada, the wasps pose almost nothreat to humans or our environment, "There is absolutely no potential impact on people or pets or anything other than emerald ash borer."

The wasps, however, are not a quick fix. Lyons says it takes time to build up the population of the wasps before they can be effective,

"This is not a silver bullet, this is not something that happens overnight, it takes a long time to develop.In some areas in Ontario there are not a lot of ash trees that are surviving, so we are predicting that we won't be able to save some of them, but maybe the next generation of ash tree that comes up," he said.

Thelarva eating species has already been released in a few areas, but Natural Resources Canada recently began a larger release of bothspecies of wasps. Wasp releases at locations nearTillsonburg, Londonand Georgetown are planned in the next couple months.