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FREDERICTON - A pesky beetle that lives inside ash trees and eventually kills them could be on its way to New Brunswick, officials warn.

The emerald ash borer - a green flying insect that bores into ash trees and cuts off their water supply over time - was found in Toronto last year and recently appeared in the Montreal region.

"It's reasonable to assume that unless preventive measures are taken to stop it from coming to New Brunswick, it will get here," said Don Murray, a city forester in Fredericton.

The beetle can be transported when infested nursery trees or firewood are moved from one area to another, Murray said. The most effective method of preventing the beetle's spread to the province would be to cease such transfers, he said, especially considering most nursery stock in New Brunswick comes from Ontario or Quebec.

"We've got to stop the flow of ash nursery stock in New Brunswick from other provinces. People have got to stop transporting firewood across borders," Murray said.

The beetle spends most of its life inside the tree, emerging only for a two- to three-week period, when it breeds, lays eggs and dies. Because of that, it's difficult to determine whether a tree is infested, Murray said, noting infestations are generally determined by symptoms of stress on a dying tree.

If the ash borer made its way to New Brunswick, about 14,000 street and park trees would be at risk in the Fredericton area alone, Murray said. That would mean a huge expense - totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars - in removing the trees, he added.

The emerald ash borer, which poses no threat to humans, has destroyed 30 million ash trees in North America since it was first discovered in Michigan in 2002.

Fredericton Mayor Brad Woodside plans to meet with representatives of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the provincial Department of Natural Resources to discuss preventive measures.

Sherri Strickland, a spokeswoman with the department, said New Brunswickers need not be alarmed just yet.

"We're not panicking about it," Strickland said. "Summer's the season we're monitoring the woods a lot."

Routine forest checks, including on-the-ground surveys and overhead inspections by airplanes, provide the department with an effective means to determine whether any damage is occurring, she said.

The federal food inspection agency is responsible for monitoring all wood products that come in to the province, Strickland added.

George Scott, co-owner of Scott's Nursery in Lincoln, said ash trees make up only a small percentage of the nursery's overall sales, citing about $2,000 in annual sales.

"Demand for ash is more limited than for other types of trees," Scott said. "In our situation, if it were taken off the market, it wouldn't be the end of the world."

Still, the nursery has ongoing safeguards to prevent importing diseased trees, including purchasing all its stock from nurseries that have certified beetle-free programs in place, he added.