Plymouth Removes Ash Trees to Combat EAB
The city of Plymouth is working to get rid of ash trees infested with a fast-spreading tree insect called the Emerald Ash Borer.
Emerald Ash Borer is in the City
“We have Emerald Ash Borer in the city,” says Paul Buck, the city of Plymouth forester. “They are mostly down in the southwest corner, which we are expecting that to expand. In the last few years it has expanded to about a block larger in diameter.”
Knowing how quickly Emerald Ash Borer can spread, the city is being proactive by cutting infested trees down. Winter is the best time to cut down infested tree since the bugs are dormant.
“If you were to take [the tree down] in the summer, you could be driving along with the truck and they could be jumping off the truck,” added Buck. “ In that case you could actually be spreading them faster. If we can capture them while they are dormant in the tree, we know we have a 100 percent capture rate. Even though we are destroying the tree by chipping it up, it we know we have captured as many as we can.”
While the city is making headway on trees that line city streets, they are also offering incentives to residents who have ash trees on their property.
“If you have a tree in your private yard, and you take that tree down proactively we will give you a tree that you can plant in your yard,” added Buck.
Residents Can Choose New Tree
Residents will have a choice of five trees to replace their old one. However the ash tree must be removed before March if the home owner wants the tree within the next year. The city’s hope is that these replacement trees will provide the same benefits that ash trees do.
“Tree’s provide a lot of benefits,” says Kaitlyn Lindaman with Minnesota GreenCorps. “One of the big benefits of Ash tree for these is shade. Also, tree capture carbon out of the air is another. It’s important to not lose those 200 trees east of I-94 and then another 200 west of I-94. That would be a lot of trees missing from the urban forest canopy, so we want to keep that as full as possible.”
Nine hundred trees across the city are being treated for emerald ash borer, so some of the tree’s are able to be saved. The cities main goal is to keep and treat as many tree’s as possible. For more information on the residential tree program you can visit the city of Plymouth’s website.
