St. Charles Ash Tree Removal Continues

The city has planted 700 trees as of June 7, and intends to plant another 700 this fall to begin replacing some of the 3,600 ash trees that have been casualties of a relentless invasive beetle known as the emerald ash borer.

While the replanting continues, the removal of dead and dying trees that have been infested by the bug continues. A summary to the St. Charles City Council Government Services Committee indicates plans to cut down another 140 ash trees in July.

The ash borer is nearly always fatal to the ash trees it infests. Its larvae infest that part of the tree trunk which carries water and nutrients throughout the tree, eventually killing it.

While there are pesticide treatments that can be used to fight an infestation, aldermen learned last week that the treatments — which the city has applied to about 300 ash trees — proved effective in only about a third of those.

The city issued a release in early June about the use of the insecticide through the Legacy Tree Project, which the city joined in 2010.

So cutting down the tree frequently is the only choice once it has been infested.

Last year, the city identified about 3,600 “public” ash trees, and removed about two-thirds of them before year’s end. This year, the city awarded a $500,000 contract in May to Skyline Tree Service to remove about 1,000 more trees.

By late 2013 or early 2014, the city estimates there will be only 400 public ash trees left in St. Charles — public trees being those within the city’s rights of way.

“Our efforts during the month of June 2013 to review the remaining inventory of ash trees and determine which trees will possibly survive and which trees we should prioritize for removal is still under way,” the summary states. “Our contractor has successfully worked to remove the backlog of ash trees already approved and marked for removal.”

But that is not the end of the cutting. Starting in July, the city has targeted another 140 ash trees for removal, with the lion’s share — 95 — in the city’s northern quadrants.

The planting of new trees likewise is not done. The city plans to plant about 1,400 trees in all this year, which includes the 700 planted in the spring.

During the St. Charles Arbor Day event at Lincoln Park, Phil Graf, with Graf’s Tree Care Service, which has been working with the city on combatting the emerald ash borer infestation, said the steps St. Charles is taking now to replant after removing so many ash trees will help prepare it against future disasters such as the beetle infestation.

Specifically, he pointed out this year’s planting efforts have focused on planting a diverse variety of 54 types of trees to replace the infested ash trees. That should leave the city’s tree population less susceptible to future disasters.

The emerald ash borer first was identified in St. Charles in 2006.

Related:

• May 7, 2013: St. Charles Marks Arbor Day

• April 25, 2013: Next Phase of St. Charles Emerald Ash Borer Fight Advances

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