Overview

• Amateur entomologist Andrew Short captured a metallic green beetle in downtown Vancouver in June 2023 and reported it to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, marking the first emerald ash borer confirmed west of Manitoba.
• A spring 2025 study in BioInvasions Records identified heavily infested ash trees in Andy Livingstone Park dating to at least 2020, indicating the pest has been established for years.
• An infested tree discovered in Burnaby in 2024 suggests an older undetected population extending beyond the initial Vancouver site.
• Researchers set traps and conducted branch sampling near BC Place stadium, uncovering 19 larvae despite capturing no adult beetles.
• Officials have launched formal monitoring efforts and are organizing insecticide trials, targeted removals, canopy diversification and public education campaigns while assessing tree mortality rates in Vancouver’s maritime climate.