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
descriptions without steering residents unfairly toward any one arborist. I’ve been contacted by folks in Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota, New Mexico, Indiana, and Wisconsin want- ing to know my opinions regarding this insect and how they can set up an action plan. I say that every municipality has to look to its available resources and level of training and its commitment to the urban forest in order to make an educated decision regarding this insect. For my community, chemical treatment was not an option, and I’m very glad we didn’t waste too much time with that method. Removal and replacement was the only way we could effectively fight this insect, and thankfully our plan was implemented prior to an eco- nomic downturn. I love trees, everything about them—their smell when in bloom or when the heartwood has slime flux, the colors, textures, magnitude or understated grace, the contorted or the formal, and I love the habitats they support. It pains me to have to cut trees down in the manner that we are, but it is a necessary evil in order to keep my community safe from the hazards we face. EAB is not Dutch elm disease; it is not oak wilt. We are dealing with an insidious insect that consumes its own habitat. On top of that, ash structurally deteriorates rapidly in response to decline. Elm trees do not dry out and fall apart as rapidly as ash, nor does the oak, whether red or white. Ash is leading in the amount of broken limb calls that we are getting (primarily due to the infesta- tion); Siberian elm is coming in a distant second based on population percentages. The good news is that reforestation is a success story for us now, with very low mortality and extremely high diversity. —Jim Tresouthick, City Forester, Homewood, Illinois EAB outbreak, discovering firsthand the devastation of this borer. It is estimated that the first of the EAB-killed ashes came down as early as the late 1990s, but it was 2003 before a serious problem was obvious. We had no idea what we were dealing with, and it would be some time before researchers could identify this pest, determine its habits, and test management options. L Ann Arbor had a generous population of ash trees from native, mature trees over 30 inch (76.2 cm) DBH to young neighborhoods fully planted with green ash. Ash represented 17% of our street tree population and about 20% of our woodland and park trees. Understandably, Ann Arbor took a conservative approach for the first few years, only removing trees as they died. In 2005, faced with the ugly truth about the astonishing mortality rate and our inability to stop the borer, the City ran a two- 32 essons learned from EAB? Hard and many! Ann Arbor, Michigan, was one of the first cities to experience an Ash stumps sucker, growing into small shrubs that can cause traffic visibility problems. year contract to remove the remaining 4500 dead and dying ash trees and 4800 stumps on City streets and in mowed areas of parks. As tree people realize, but regular folks do not, many of the dying ash were lush and green. Taking down green trees created much additional public concern and plenty of one-on-one public education opportunities. The EAB situation was well covered by the City and media, espe- cially when the City put up to vote a special tax to pay for ash removal. Some lessons learned: • Participate in research studies for pest management. Beginning in 2004, Michigan State University conducted research on ash mortality rates, species preference, and pesticide efficacy on Ann Arbor street and park trees. The pesticide trials ended in 2005 with the death of each and every tree treated. The results of these early studies, although preliminary, were often referenced to help the public understand our manage- ment (read: removal) strategy. • Try unconventional techniques developed by researchers. Also, consider those of residents—for their sake if not for the City Trees