Forestry Threat Found In Lunenburg

The brown spruce longhorn beetle that devastated much of Halifax's Point Pleasant Park years ago has appeared in the Lunenburg area. The town recently received a notice from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency that prohibits it from moving any spruce logs, bark or wood chips off nine properties it owns.The notice says the beetle turned up in traps set in the area. Mayor Laurence Mawhinney says the beetle's presence is up for discussion at town council this week. For now though, the town doesn't know what the notice means for people living in the area. The Mayor says: "We were one of the properties within a thousand metres of a trap in the Garden Lots area where a brown-spruce longhorn beetle was found. They were raising this as a concern. We cannot move nor can anyone else within this thousand metre perifery any spruce logs, bark or chips. Its simply a matter at this time to further investigate." The notice affects about 14 hectares of land. The town does not plan to do any harvesting of trees in the area affected.