City Trees is a premier publication focused on urban + community forestry. In each issue, you’ll learn how to best manage the trees in your community and more!
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/26931
As is true for most municipal foresters, there have been hard lessons in the wake of a suddenly and ever changing economic climate. Recall Wilmette’s 2006 EAB Management Plan, which called for all infested ash trees to be removed by 2011, with full replacements in 2012. In light of the Great Recession, we had to have a flexible working budget and adjust the plan to fit our community’s needs. For Wilmette, we shifted focus and money to removals of heavily infested, dangerous trees. Mitigating hazards and reducing risk to residents and their property is priority number one. Our EAB Management Budget had to be reduced dramatically but without compromising public safety. At this time, over 1,500 parkway ash trees have been removed with less than 50% of those open spots being replanted with new trees. We have worked with organi- zations and residents on cost sharing planting efforts– which has helped–but certainly and understandably we are not on same track as we were in 2006. Budget projections and a revised EAB Management Plan call for finishing up removals at the end of 2016 and finishing replanting in 2023. Lesson Learned: This is subject to change as needed. I can hardly believe it will be five years this July since Wilmette discovered the first EAB in the community. It’s been a lot of hard work for everyone involved, and I know that there is a lot of work ahead of us. With fif- teen states and two Canadian Provinces confirmed with EAB infestations, there are thousands of communities who could write their own story, their own “Lessons Learned.” We are all impacted by EAB and should unite in networking with each other for as long as we are all doing we love to do: care for the urban forest. –Kevin Sorby, Village Forester, Wilmette, Illinois I believe Homewood was hit by convergent populations of EAB from several or many different populations, rather than by one wave of the advancing insect as it made its “natural” spread. Looking at our EAB popula- tion pressure, tree mortality, and the lack of cambium on most if not all ash trees due to feeding larvae, even down into the root flares to below grade, the evidence shows the insects are pushing hard. However, I believe we are on the down side of the bell-shaped curve regarding the infestation and population pressure, although the damage is done and it will be years before our residents can recover fully from the financial burden of removals and hopefully replacement. Our aggressive management plan has been falling fur- ther and further behind, as we knew it would, although we were hopeful that we would stay ahead of it. Trees being removed now–those that were green all summer and showed early fall color due to drought and known EAB infestation—are brittle and have many, many galler- ies from root flare to branches of 1-inch diameter. When trees are felled this late in the infestation, branches up to 8 inches (20 cm) in diameter blow apart dry, brittle, and dangerous. However, trunks remain intact, which is very helpful in our wood utilization efforts. Stem failure is on the rise on private property when compared with our municipal trees, although our pro- active in-house removal plan with contractual backup has eliminated most of the problematic trees to date. Thankfully, Code Enforcement and our beleaguered for- estry staff have teamed up to successfully address the worst of these trees on private property. I wish I’d had the chance to start removals one year earlier, knowing what I now know. There was some early chemical treatment of ash trees in Homewood that was not as effective as one would like. In my opinion, fiddling around with insecticides when the population pressure of EAB was this high would have wasted thousands of dollars and still resulted in removals. Residents that had scoffed at the idea of removal and replacement, relying on contractors who proclaimed to have the miracle cure, are now inquiring about who they should contact for removal quotes. I provide tips on insurance, ISA certification, and clearly defined job www.urban-forestry.com 31