The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

2- The Oakville Beaver, Friday April 4, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Town identifies 1,000 at-risk trees Continued from page 1 MICHAEL IVANIN / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER CALL INTERRUPTED: A Halton Regional Police officer was responding to an emergency call when he was involved in a collision at the Dorval Drive and Speers Road intersection on Tuesday afternoon. Cruiser damaged in collision Halton police are reporting no serious injuries after one of their own was involved in a two-vehicle collision on Tuesday. Police said that at about 1 p.m. the officer was driving southbound on Dorval Drive, in an unmarked cruiser in response to an emergency call. "The call was about an unknown object that they thought could have been an explosive device," said Sgt. Dave Pollard, Halton Police. "It turned out to be firecrackers." Pollard said that because the officer was responding to a perceived emergency, the cruiser's lights and sirens were activated; however, as the officer passed through the intersection of Dorval Drive and Speers Road, he was struck by a Nissan travelling eastbound. The driver of the Nissan, a 56-year-old Oakville woman, was taken to Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital (OTMH) with minor injuries. The officer, a six-year veteran of the Halton Regional Police Service, was also taken to hospital as a precaution, although no injuries were reported. Both vehicles sustained extensive damage in the crash. The cruiser's passenger side was smashed inward while the Nissan's front bumper and grill were twisted to the ground. The car's hood was bent backwards exposing the engine. The collision is still under investigation and no charges have been laid at this time. Anyone with information about the accident is asked to contact the Uniform Staff Sergeant at 2 District Oakville 905-878-5511, ext 2211. oyster perpetual day-date in platinum MacLachlan College OPEN HOUSE Tuesdays are school tour Open House days 9:30 to 11:00 AM "Come and experience the MacLachlan Magic" MacLachlan College is a co-educational university prep school Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12 We create leaders with a passion for learning. 337 Trafalgar Road, Oakville, Ontario (905) 844-0372 ext. 235 registrar@maclachlan.ca www.maclachlan.ca mately 63 hectares to be at high risk, which means 2,500 egg masses or more were found in each hectare. Combined with the knowledge that each egg mass contains around 300 eggs, McNeil believed that to do nothing would result in severe defoliation. "We estimated that in the four areas at greatest risk there would be about 1,000 trees that would die this year, primarily oak trees," he said. " This would cost the town about a quarter of a million dollars in hazard tree removal not to mention the environmental services costs." President of Bioforest Technologies Inc. Joe Meating, talked about other possible costs that could be incurred if the gypsy moth problem is not dealt with, which include injuries and property damage that could result from the falling branches of dead trees, people using harmful pesticides to deal with the problem on their own and more. "There actually is a danger that comes from having so many caterpillars on the ground and on the sidewalks and roadways that they become slippery," he said. "I am aware of one instance where they had to put salting trucks out because of this." To prevent all these potential calamities the town is turning to Btk, which is expected to eliminate between 90-95 per cent of the gypsy moth population in the at risk areas. Sprayed from a low-flying helicopter the Btk will land on tree leaves, which the caterpillars normally feed on for six to eight weeks after hatching from their egg masses in late April or early May. The caterpillars will eat the Btk as they eat the leaves at which point an infection will develop that will kill them. Meating said the bacterium is harmless to humans, mammals, birds and most non-target insect species and was backed up in this assertion by Environmental Health Specialist Jacinth Miller of the Halton Region Health Department. "Btk is safe, it has been used for many years and there have been no health concerns identified," she said. "We did pretty thorough research into the bacterium and we also spoke to the City of Mississauga, the City of Toronto as well as the public health department and they basically supported the use of Btk to control gypsy moths." The City of Burlington will also be using Btk to deal with potential infestations while the City of Hamilton is still surveying their land to determine where and if spraying will be necessary. Halton Region is also in the process of deciding whether spraying will be used to combat gypsy moth infestations taking place on Regional land. Officials in charge of Bronte Provincial Park, where a major infestation is expected to take place, are considering spraying a virus that specifically targets gypsy moths. Residents who wish to help fight gypsy moths can do so by scraping the brownish furry gypsy moth egg masses off their trees. To prevent young caterpillars from crawling up trees, residents can place a band of duct tape around the tree's trunk and then coat the tape with a sticky substance. This will cause small caterpillars to get stuck and not be able to reach the leaves at the top of the tree. For trees that are already infested residents can wrap burlap around the trunk of a tree and then tie a rope around its middle to keep it in place. As caterpillars look for places to hide during the day many will climb down from the leaves and hide under the burlap where they can be easily removed. This must be done before the afternoon however, when the caterpillars will leave the burlap and return to the leaves. A public information meeting on the Town's Gypsy Moth Project is on Saturday at the Town's Central Operations building, 1140 South Service Rd. W. The meeting is from 10 a.m. to noon. Following the meeting a free Gypsy Moth Workshop will be held, from noon to 2 p.m., in Bronte Creek Provincial Park for residents and private woodland owners who want to learn ways to control the insect. Return transportation will be provided from the Central Operations building to the workshop site.