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A destructive three-millimetre insect is straining Saskatoon city hall’s ability to keep up with the devastation it leaves behind.

A city council committee endorsed three initiatives Tuesday to try to address the carnage left behind by the cottony ash psyllid, which has killed thousands of black ash trees in Saskatoon.

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The toll on Saskatoon’s trees will likely change the way the city plants trees in the future, with an eye to a greater mix, council’s environment, utilities and corporate services committee heard.

“The pests do move from tree to tree to tree,” the City of Saskatoon’s director of parks, Darren Crilly, told the committee. “This particular instance has shone a light on the importance of diversity.”

The city removed 1,661 trees this year in response to the psyllid infestation, including the removal of 1,175 tree stumps, while 385 trees were replanted.

However, another 2,900 trees need to be removed and that is expected to cost $823,000 in 2019 to remove the trees and stumps and to plant new trees. The 2019 plan is part of a five-year plan estimated to cost $3.4 million, just to try to address the impact of this one pest.