Expansion of the regulated areas for hemlock woolly adelgid in Nova Scotia and Ontario

 Ottawa, ON – Canadian Food Inspection Agency

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has updated its regulated areas for hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) to include areas in Nova Scotia and Ontario, in an effort to slow the insect's spread. This change is due to previous detections of HWA in Lunenburg and Kings County, Nova Scotia, in 2020 and 2021 respectively, as well as in Fort Erie, Ontario, in July 2021.

Effective immediately, the movement of hemlock materials (including logs, branches and woodchips) and all species of firewood are restricted from the following areas:

• the province of British Columbia
• the counties of Lunenburg, Digby, Kings, Queens, Shelburne, Yarmouth and Annapolis in Nova Scotia and
• the City of Niagara Falls, the Township of Wainfleet and the Town of Fort Erie in Ontario

If you need to move regulated articles such as logs and branches or firewood of any species out of the HWA regulated area, please contact your local CFIA office to request written authorization.

Although the HWA poses no threat to human health, it is highly destructive to hemlock trees. It poses a major economic and environmental threat to urban and forested areas of North America. The CFIA continues to work with federal, provincial, municipal and Indigenous partners and organizations to slow the spread of this pest.