I think its northern limit is in my front yard. I have seen it not far south of us ( towards Guelph) and east ( Milton) but not north ( towards Bob in Caledon) my trees dont leaf out until late May, flower only occasionally, and drop leaves early September. I can see why it might be called a pest, but it is a great tree. There was a previous thread about conservation land and bee pasture in the USA. Black locust would be a great reclamation species because it would be serve many interests. It fixes nitrogen, grows on marginal land, grows very fast and so is a great carbon sink, as firewood has a higher heat content than maple, and makes honey. The wood is rot resistant, and if planted so as forced to grow straight, there are few knots and twists so it then has value as a higher grade hardwood. A plantation of it will leave the land in a mess of roots, but  the shoots coming from these, which I've seen grow 3 ft/yr,  have been fed as cattle forage (twigs from mature trees can be toxic however). 

Greg Hawkins

Everton, ON Canada

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