Geneva debates options with ash borer in town
Geneva city officials Monday night debated what, if anything, to do now that the emerald ash borer has officially arrived in town.
Should the city immediately cut down the nearly 2,800 parkway ash trees it has, whether they are infested or not? Should it require homeowners to cut theirs down if there is evidence of infestation, or let them leave their trees alone until and unless they become a hazard?
The EAB was found recently by a private contractor in the Williamsburg Village subdivision on the city's west side.
Steve LeMaire, superintendent of Geneva Streets and Fleet which maintains the city's trees, said there is no reason to require a quick removal of EAB-infested trees. An old city ordinance required removal within 10 days of trees infested with Dutch elm disease, but Alderman Chuck Brown pointed out that that was based on faulty beliefs that disposing of diseased trees quickly would prevent other trees from getting the disease. That proved not to be the case.
There is one insecticide being tried to kill the ash borers, but it has to be applied every year.
As for parkway trees, the city staff is inclined to stop doing any trimming or other maintenance work on any kind of ash tree, feeling it is a waste of money given the likelihood that the tree will succumb eventually to ash borers. LeMaire suggested that homeowners who request maintenance for parkway ash trees be informed that the choices are to leave it be or have it cut down.
He also suggested that the city consider adopting a long timeline, perhaps five years, for removal of trees on private property.
"It's a situation where we have to be compassionate with the residents if they have a nice big ash tree," LeMaire said.
About 23 percent of the city's parkway trees are ashes. Karla Lynch, a landscape architect and botany educator at Morton Arboretum, said the percentage may be even higher on private property, since ash trees are native to the area.
If the city hired a contractor to eradicate all the public ash trees, LeMaire estimates it could cost up to $467,908 ($168 per tree) over a 10-year time frame. Doing so with city workers is estimated at $416,353 ($149 per tree.)
Just removing those with evidence of infestation is estimated at $22,350 for 150 trees and would be done in-house.
None of these include the cost of removing stumps or planting replacement trees. If the city had a private contractor replace all the trees over a 10-year period, it estimates that would cost $748,440. If done in-house, LeMaire expects it would cost $40,500 for 150 trees per year.
Alderman Chuck Brown noted that, with research being done into fighting EAB infestations, a homeowner with an infested tree may prefer to keep the tree in the hope that a cure comes along before it is too far gone.
"Delaying is not necessarily a silly thing to do," he said.
The city council expects to vote on the plan in February.