Invasive Species in the Township of Tiny
Invasive species are non-native plants, animals, insects, and pathogens that harm local ecosystems, wildlife, and the economy. They often arrive accidentally and spread quickly, outcompeting native species and causing damage.
Suspect an invasive species?
Report it right away!- On Township property: Contact the Public Works, Parks Division at 705-526-4204 or
kpost@tiny.ca - Elsewhere in Ontario: Call the Invading Species Hotline at 1-800-563-7711 or report online at EDDMapS Ontario.
- On Township property: Contact the Public Works, Parks Division at 705-526-4204 or
Beach associations, community groups, and individuals in the Township of Tiny play a vital role in protecting our natural environment. If you're planning a cleanup or invasive species removal activity, we’re here to help! Use the form below to request support from the Township for your upcoming invasive species clean-up event. Thank you for your commitment to environmental stewardship, and helping keep Tiny beautiful.
Spongy Moth
In an ongoing effort to be inclusive organizations, the Township of Tiny and the Severn Sound Environmental Association (SSEA) are transitioning away from the use of “gypsy moth” and will be using the term “Spongy moth” moving forward.
The Spongy Moth (sometimes referred to as the LDD Moth, previously the European Gypsy Moth) is a non-native invasive insect from Europe that was brought to North America in the 1860's. Spongy Moth larvae (caterpillars) feeds on a wide range of deciduous and some coniferous trees.
During the egg stage, spongy moths lay tan-yellow, fuzzy egg masses on tree bark and a variety of outdoor objects, including vehicles, furniture, and children’s toys.
Once hatched, the larval stage (caterpillars) begins. These caterpillars grow up to 6 cm in length and are covered in hairs, featuring five pairs of blue dots and six pairs of red dots along their back. They feed primarily on the leaves of trees and are most active at night. This stage lasts approximately 40 days.
The pupal stage occurs in early summer (June–July), where caterpillars develop a hard, dark-brown shell inside which they transform into adults.
Adult spongy moths emerge as winged moths. Males are brown with feathery antennae and can fly, while females are beige and cannot fly. Adults do not feed and live for about two weeks, during which time they mate and lay eggs to begin the cycle again.
Spongy moth caterpillars feed on more than 300 species of plants, with a preference for hardwood trees such as oak, maple, birch, alder, and hawthorn. They can also feed on some softwood trees. Forest health influences the severity and duration of infestations.
Signs and symptoms of spongy moth presence include the appearance of egg masses on tree bark and other outdoor objects, leaves with holes, or completely defoliated trees. Severe defoliation can cause dieback of twigs and branches. Affected trees may expend significant energy to regrow leaves mid-summer, leaving them more vulnerable to disease and other pests.
Historically, spongy moth populations are cyclical, peaking approximately every 7 to 10 years before collapsing due to a host-specific virus or fungus. Even during peak years, healthy trees can often recover and re-leaf, with most forest ecosystems remaining resilient to outbreaks over time.
Peak spongy moth outbreaks can be a significant nuisance, with severe defoliation stressing trees. Maintaining healthy trees and forests is the best long-term defense.
Management Tips:
- Scraping Egg Masses (Sept–April): Scrape egg masses from trees, decks, and other surfaces into soapy water for at least 48 hours. Apply horticultural oil where scraping isn’t practical.
- Burlap Wrapping (June–August): Wrap a strip of burlap around tree trunks to trap caterpillars. Check the trap daily and place any found caterpillars in soapy water. Video-How to Burlap Wrap a Tree
- Hand-Picking (May–July): Wear gloves to handpick caterpillars from small trees and shrubs.
- Watering: Water stressed trees every 3–5 days during droughts to help them recover.
- Attract Natural Predators: Plant native shrubs and flowers to support birds and insects that feed on spongy moths.
- Prevent Spread: Inspect vehicles and outdoor items before moving them. Never move firewood.
Regulation:
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) regulates the spongy moth in Canada. For details, visit the CFIA website.The spongy moth is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa but was accidentally introduced to North America over 130 years ago. Since then, it has spread across the northeastern United States and parts of eastern Canada, including Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia.
Long-distance spread is often caused by the movement of firewood, outdoor furniture, vehicles, and other household items that may carry hidden egg masses or caterpillars. Public awareness is key to limiting its spread into new areas.
For the current distribution map, visit EDDMapS.
Spongy moth caterpillars strip leaves from trees, weakening them and making them more vulnerable to disease. Repeated defoliation can kill some deciduous trees, and even a single year can be fatal for conifers.
Economic Impacts:
Infestations can reduce property values, increase costs for tree removal, and affect tourism. In the U.S., they caused an estimated $120 million annual property loss from 1998 to 2007, plus $298 million in federal expenditures.Ecological Impacts:
Defoliation reduces canopy cover, affecting wildlife habitat and food sources. Infestations can also disrupt forest composition, especially by affecting oak regeneration.Social Impacts:
The caterpillars’ hairs can cause skin irritation. Defoliated trees can degrade recreational and residential landscapes.Ensure you have a licensed and educated contractor to apply insecticide to limit the effects on native insects and caterpillars.
Applying insecticide can be an effective method to kill the Spongy Moth if it is applied during the appropriate period (early caterpillar instar stage) when they are foraging, as it must be ingested. During its pupal, adult (moth), and egg stage from late June till the following May, they do not eat, and spraying will be ineffective.
Residents must inquire with a licensed and educated service provider to have their individual properties sprayed with the aerial application of BTK at their own expense.
Residents, should they make the decision to spray, are advised to ensure that they are following the proper protocol and to also respect the wishes and desires of the neighbouring property owners. Residents who have made contractual arrangements for Spongy Moth removal should refer directly to the hired company for any related questions.
Overspray policy
In 2021, the Township established an Spongy (LDD) Moth: Overspray Policy (PDF). The intent of this policy was to ensure that the Township was made aware of BTK (Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki) applications that have the potential for overspray onto public spaces (e.g. parks, trails and beaches).
Actions of The Township
As part of the 2021 budget deliberations, Council made the decision to follow the advice of the County of Simcoe Forestry Department and the Severn Sound Environmental Association (SSEA), not to perform a spray program on municipally owned property, due to the cyclical nature of these outbreaks, and the potential cost of the program.
Vegetation and Fungi
Invasive plants—non-native trees, shrubs, and herbaceous species—are spread by global trade, human and animal transport, and gardening. They invade forests, crowd out native vegetation, and disrupt wildlife habitat and ecosystem functions. Most cannot provide food for native wildlife, increasing grazing pressure on the few native plants that remain. In addition, invasive plants spread rapidly, outcompeting crops and forest plants, deteriorating soil quality, and threatening agriculture. Once established, they form dense thickets that are costly and time-consuming to remove.
Giant hogweed is a member of the carrot family and its resemblance to Queen Anne’s lace caused it to become a garden ornamental. It spreads easily and can establish along roadsides, ditches, and streams.
Giant hogweed has a thick bright green stem (3-8 cm in diameter) with dark reddish-purple spots and coarse white hairs at the base of the leaf stock. The plant can be 2-5.5 m tall with broad leaves that are deeply-lobed and serrated. From late spring to mid-summer, giant hogweed produces a large upside-down umbrella-shaped head, up to 80 cm across, with clusters of tiny white flowers.
Giant hogweed has a phototoxic sap that, when exposed to light, can cause severe burns on human skin. Removing hogweed can be dangerous because of this sap; it should also not be burned or composted for this reason. The easiest way to remove giant hogweed is to pull it when it is still very young and small and store all plant components in sealed black garbage bags until the plant is dried and seeds are no longer viable. Do not plant giant hogweed in gardens and report any sightings.
More information about giant hogweed (Invasive Species Centre)
Invasive Phragmites (European Common Reed) is an invasive plant causing damage to Ontario’s biodiversity, wetlands and beaches. Invasive Phragmites is a perennial grass that has been damaging ecosystems in Ontario for decades. It is not clear how it was transported to North America from its native home in Eurasia.
Invasive Phragmites is an aggressive plant that spreads quickly and out-competes native species for water and nutrients. It releases toxins from its roots into the soil to hinder the growth of and kill surrounding plants. While it prefers areas of standing water, its roots can grow to extreme lengths, allowing it to survive in relatively dry areas.
One factor making the identification of invasive Phragmites difficult is the existence of a closely related native subspecies. Generally, native Phragmites does not grow as tall as the invasive plant and does not out-compete other native species. A number of characteristics of the plant can be useful in distinguishing between the native variety and invasive Phragmites.
More information about phragmites (Ontario's Invading Species Awareness Program)
Tar spot is a fungal leaf disease that does occur on several plants, but it is most common on maple trees. It does not cause permanent damage to the tree.
Tar spot is an unsightly condition on the leaves for maple trees. It starts with small yellow spots on growing leaves, and by late summer these yellow spots expand into large black blotches that look like tar has been dropped on the leaves. This is because a fungal pathogen, Rhytisma acerinum has developed on the leaves of the maple. When the fungus initially infects a leaf, it causes a small 1/3 cm (1/8 inch.) wide yellow spot to form. As the summer weather progresses, that spot spreads, eventually growing up to 2 cm (3/4 inch.) wide. The spreading yellow spot will also change color as it continues to grow, slowly turning from a yellow-green to a deep, tarry black. That is why it is referred to as a tar spot.
Trees that have trouble with the fungal disease year after year may also be struggling with excessive moisture. You’ll do them a great favor if you increase the grade around them to eliminate standing water and prevent moisture build-up.
Young trees may require treatment, especially if other trees have had a lot of their leaf surfaces covered by fungal disease in the recent past. If you’re planting a younger maple in an area prone to the fungal disease, though, applying a fungicide, Safer Defender Garden Fungicide 1L Ready-to-Use or Safer 3-in-1 Garden Spray 1L Ready-to-Use, at bud break and twice again in 7- to 14-day intervals is recommended. Once your tree is well-established and too tall to easily spray, it should be able to fend for itself.
A variety of factors contribute to the spread and recurrence of this fungal infection. Some factors, such as weather, are not able to be controlled. However, there are some ways in which you can help to prevent infection. Proper garden and yard sanitation will help reduce the spread of tar spot. Overwintering in fallen leaves, one of the best practices is the removal of all your maple’s fallen leaves and bagging or composting them to eliminate the closest source of tar spot spores. If you leave the fallen leaves on the ground until spring, the spores on them will likely re-infect the new foliage and start the cycle again.
Informational video (Severn Sound Environmental Association)
In June 2023, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed the presence of oak wilt (Bretziella fagacearum) in Niagara Falls, Ontario after receiving reports of symptomatic trees in the area. This is the first known case of oak wilt in Canada. The loss of oak trees would be felt in both urban and natural spaces as oaks are in many backyards, parks, woodlots, and forests.
Oak wilt is a fungal pathogen that spreads through the vascular system of infected oak trees, restricting the upward movement of water and nutrients. The leaves of infected trees can wilt and drop without these resources, resulting in complete defoliation early in the spring and summer.Canada Food Inspection Agency - Oak Wilt
Invasive Species Centre - Oak Wilt
Animals and Insects
Invasive animals and insects threaten terrestrial ecosystems by spreading disease, preying on or competing with native species, hybridizing, and altering key natural systems like vegetation growth. They accelerate biodiversity loss and disrupt the health of natural ecological communities. Often spread unintentionally through human activities, such as escape from enclosures, invasive species lack natural predators and quickly dominate landscapes. They are among the leading drivers of global biodiversity loss, fundamentally changing how ecosystems function.
“Asian carps” refers to four species of carps (Bighead, Black, Grass, and Silver) which are members of the cyprinid family and are related to several varieties of minnows. Asian carps were introduced to the Southern U.S. in the late 1960s and 1970s for use as biological control in aquaculture facilities based on their specific diets. Flooding events allowed at least three of the four species (Bighead, Silver, and Black carps) to escape these facilities and eventually make their way into the Mississippi River Basin. The spread of Grass Carp has largely been the result of stocking for the purposes of aquatic vegetation control.
Silver and Bighead Carps have established populations throughout the Mississippi River Basin and are now in the Illinois Waterway and within striking distance of Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes. Black Carp are spreading towards the Illinois River and recent evidence has found natural reproduction of Grass Carp in two U.S. tributaries of Lake Erie, which is an immediate threat to Lake Erie.
There are currently no established populations of Asian carps in the Great Lakes.
These fish are of concern because of the damage they could cause to Canada’s ecological, recreational and economic environments if they established in the Great Lakes. In the absence of adequate prevention, it is predicted that Asian carp will eventually reach the Great Lakes.
More information about Asian carps (Invasive Species Centre)
The emerald ash borer (EAB) is an invasive wood-boring beetle, native to parts of Asia. It was detected in the Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario areas in 2002, but likely existed undetected in North America since the 1990s. Experts believe the EAB was introduced to Detroit hidden inside wooden packaging materials or shipping crates. Since its arrival, the EAB has been rapidly spreading across North America, having devastating effects on the ash tree population, killing up to 99% of ash trees in its path. The EAB continues to spread in all directions across North America where ash trees are present.
If your ash tree has been infested with the emerald ash borer, you will see several signs and symptoms. These include crown dieback, bark deformities (vertical cracks and shoots growing out of the lower trunk), D-shaped exit holes, woodpecker feeding holes, and yellowing foliage. You may also see larval galleries (pictured below, right) beneath the bark.
More information about emerald ash borer (Invasive Species Centre)