There is as yet no evidence of the emerald ash borer in Owen Sound.
The city commissioned a study of its trees in response to the threat of the insect which is destroying millions of ash trees in North America. Horticulturist Michelle Draper conducted an inventory of trees on city property over the summer.
Draper stresses they only studied trees on city property.
"From the ground and from our assessment we haven't found anything. There are some trees that will show some common symptoms which is like die back, bark loss but any trees that did have those symptoms we did not find the beetle," says Draper.
People are urged to keep watch on their own trees for evidence of die back and let the city know.
There are web sites to find out what the emerald ash borer looks like and what the symptoms are if a tree is infested.
Draper says overall the trees in Owen Sound are generally healthy.
"A very high percentage of the trees are in a good or fair condition and most of them do have a medium to low risk assessment on them so there aren't very many high hazard trees in Owen Sound which is really good news for us."
