THE Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development says it has removed 2600 trees from residential properties as part of the polyphagous shot-hole Borer (PSHB) response.

Echo News wanted to know how many households in each local government area have been affected by PHSB and have had to have a tree or trees cut down because this information is of interest to readers in the cities of Swan and Kalamunda, Town of Bassendean and shires of Mundaring, Northam, Toodyay and York.

Knowledge about where trees have had to be cut down due to the invasive PSHB pest is probably more important since the Cook Government announced that instead of trying to eradicate PSHB a new national transition to a management plan would be finalised instead.

This week the government announced that as part of its WA tree recovery program cash rebates were now available for residents planting trees in their backyards, including those who have been impacted by PSHB, as part of a multimillion-dollar investment to improve Western Australia’s urban canopy.

Eligible landowners can claim up to $150 for every tree removed under the authorisation of the DPIRD because of PSHB.

This means the state government could have to pay out up to about $390,000 for trees removed so far.

On Monday afternoon Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn told ABC Drive that there were native trees around for people to choose from.

“They don’t particularly have to be Western Australian natives, but they just have to be Australian native trees,’’ he said.

“The other issue, of course, is this infernal polyphagous shot hole borer, and Australian native trees tend to be more resilient to its attacks, and so we want to obviously encourage people to plant trees through this program that will be resilient to those kind of attacks.’’

But the program outlined on the WA.gov.au website does not spell out the many  native trees that are susceptible to PSHB.

As reported in PSHB host list shows many plants prone to attack (Echo News, July 11) DPIRD has a list, which is regularly updated, of reproductive host tree species proven to support Polyphagous shot-hole borer (PSHB) reproduction and allowing the growth of the associated Fusarium sp. [AF18] fungus, which serves as a food source for the beetle offspring.

According to that list the most highly susceptible reproductive hosts are preferred by PSHB and infestations have been confirmed multiple times, typically associated with moderate to heavy infestation.

Australian natives with very high susceptibility are river sheoak, Moreton Bay fig, Port Jackson fig and wedding bush.

Western Australian natives with very high susceptibility are swamp paperbark, sea hibiscus and cottonwood.

Australian natives with high susceptibility are Illawarra flame tree, Moreton Bay chestnut, weeping fig and Green Island fig.

Western Australian natives with high susceptibility are Broome raintree, lebbeck tree, swamp bansia, marri, red flowering gum and stout paperbark.

Australian natives with moderate susceptibility are golden wattle, Bangalow palm, Illawara palm, diamond-leaf pittosporum, kurrajong, bottle tree, sugar gum, southern blue gum, South Australian blue gum, yellow gum, swamp mahogany, silky oak, Australia umbrella tree, macadamia nut, paperbark, creek bottlebrush and lilly pilly.

Western Australian natives with moderate susceptibility are acorn banksia, narrow-leave bossiaea, swamp sheoak, karri, flooded gum, banbar, ricinocarpus bridal star, wedding bush, basket bush and western woody pear.

There is also a list of non-reproductive host tree species that can be attacked but do not support PSHB reproduction.

In these non-reproductive host trees the beetles cannot establish breeding galleries, the fungus may or may not cause disease and trees are generally not expected to die.

Visit https://www.dpird.wa.gov.au/siteassets/documents/biosecurity/incidents/pshb/pshb-wa-host-list.pdf for the full list of trees.

Rebates for both Treebate and the WA Tree Recovery Program can now be claimed via the ServiceWA app or via the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation website.