Residents in Craighall Park, Illovo and surrounds recently attended a talk on the shothole borer beetle that threatens trees across the City.
Around 20 residents attended the walk organised by the Johannesburg Urban Forest Alliance (Jufa) in conjunction with Julian Ortlepp of Tree Works and sponsored by the Craigpark Residents’ Association.
With a possible treatment for the problem being developed, Ortlepp said the purpose of the walk was to educate the public on what to look for on their trees with regards to the borer. “When spring arrives, I believe that the beetles will become active again. With a possible treatment available we must identify timeously so we can try and get to the borer before it inflicts too much damage to the trees.”
The possible treatment is being developed by Pan African Farms and they have had some success in the first few tests done on wood samples.
Ortlepp has been aware of the problem since 2016 and spent last season testing different treatment methods and adds that the number of trees affected is too many to count. “It’s tens of thousands for sure, possibly more.”
Andrea Rosen of Jufa said the organisation was formed in an effort to protect, preserve and expand our Urban Forest. Cities produce over 70 per cent of carbon emissions.
“Jufa became aware of the borer problem through reports from members of the public late last year/beginning of this year.
“We were in touch with professional arborists such as Julian Ortlepp and realised that this was potentially an environmental crisis.”
Rosen said the City stands to lose thousands of trees if a solution is not found. Jufa recently became involved with arborists, Crebus and Pan African Farms to create public awareness.
Crebus has developed a central reporting system to report infected trees and a resident Hilton Fryer has developed a mobile application to also report trees. “I have developed the app to interface with an existing incident management platform that will cater for reporting and analysis of the problem, at both regional and national levels.”
Details: www.jufa.org.za
