Japanese beetle

Treating City property

Parks are open during treatment

We’re not closing parks, but you should stay off the grass for 24 hours post-treatment to give the larvicide a chance to take effect. There will be parks staff on site during treatment to explain procedures and answer questions.

How safe is the treatment?

The larvicide, Acelepryn, is not harmful to you, your pets, other animals, or pollinators like bees and butterflies.

It is sprayed directly on the soil and targets root-eating grubs.

Acelepryn is approved for use in Canada by the Pest Management Regulatory Agency of Health Canada and is permitted under our Health Bylaw Section 2.10 (f). 

This spring, Park Board staff will treat parks and public lands for the invasive beetle Popillia japonica (Japanese beetle). 

Treatment areas

Treatment will begin on April 22 at Connaught Park and continue through the months of May and June at parks and publics lands within the treatment area as outlined in the treatment map (440 KB)

We will:

  • Treat large turf areas and small strips of grass around flower beds, shrubs, and trees
  • Be treating over 35 hectares of park and public land (This includes all lawns within a 200 metre buffer zone around where a Japanese beetle was trapped by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in 2022 and 2023.)
  • Treat public boulevards and medians in the treatment areas, starting after May 1. Letters will be delivered to affected households a few days prior to the treatment

Signs will be posted in and around the parks notifying you of upcoming treatment.

Private property

You are not required to treat private property. However, if your property is in the treatment zone and you want treatment done, it must be applied by a certified pesticide applicator. To find out more, contact your property management company or a landscaping company working in your area.

More about the treatment

Have questions?

Send questions to us about the treatment plan for public land using our online form.

View all other topics below to see which organization to contact.

  • Identify regulated area
  • Restrict plant, soil, and landscape waste movement
  • Permits for moving restricted waste
  • Place traps for beetles
  • Intake reported beetle sightings

Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)

BCPF.Japanese.Beetle
@inspection.gc.ca

Phone: 604-292-5742

  • Eradication effort
  • Decision to eradicate invasive beetle
  • Treatment product being used

BC Ministry of Agriculture

  • Beetle education and awareness

Invasive Species Council of BC

Phone: 1-888-933-3722

  • Impact on landscape business

BC Landscape & Nursery Association