Glen Ellyn considers ash borer battle plan
Glen Ellyn village officials discussed a plan Monday night that focuses on keeping emerald ash borers away from area trees.
The study was sparked after the green beetles were found in trees at a Glendale Heights shopping plaza along North Avenue in July.
"We really needed to start to take a look at what our procedures are, and what our procedures will be in the future," Public Works Director Joe Caracci said. "But there's not a whole lot that we have control over at this point."
He said to eliminate every chance of having an emerald ash borer in Glen Ellyn, the village could remove the more than 1,900 ash trees at a cost of $300,000. It would then cost $500,000 more to replace all the trees taken down.
"If that's something we're forced to do, we'll decide to do it down the road, but that's not something we're really looking at," Caracci said.
Instead, village forester Peggy Drescher suggested injecting some ash trees with chemicals to fight off potential emerald ash borers and removing the already unhealthy and withering ash trees, as that's where many of the green bugs like to settle.
She said removing the roughly 200 ash trees along south Ellyn Road and south Milton Avenue in poor condition would cost the village about $46,000. President Vicky Hase expressed an interest in budgeting village dollars to help the bug problem, especially for treating and removing the ash in this area.
Drescher said educating residents also is a key factor in the fight against ash borers.
In the coming months, Caracci said, it would be a good idea to allocate funds for educational outreach, the removal of dying ash trees and experimental treatment of the trees.
The village started taking measures against the bugs in 2002 by participating in programs with The Morton Arboretum in Lisle. Together, they've stripped the bark of trees to be removed to check for bugs.
"It's a very difficult insect to find," Drescher said. "Even though we are stripping them, we could be missing them."