Emerald ash borer turns up in Arlington Heights

Arlington Heights has joined the list of communities with the Emerald Ash Borer, village staff announced Wednesday.

Ten traps placed around the village were studied Sept. 29 by village employees and the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

Two traps with adult EAB insects were found on Davis Street east of Arlington Heights Road and on Canterbury near Hintz Road and Windsor Drive, said Scott Garrison, arborist and crew chief with the village's forestry department.

The 13,600 ash trees in Arlington Heights represent a little more than one-third of the trees on village-owned property or parkways, the announcement said. In the past three years the village has removed ash trees in decline as they are more vulnerable to the borer.

The village only removes trees on village property. If the borer is confirmed on private property, the owner is required to remove the tree.

Arlington Heights residents should call the public works department if trees show EAB symptoms, said Scott Shirley, director of the department.

Symptoms include dying leaves, D-shaped exit holes, shoots sprouting from the tree's trunk, S-shaped larval collections under the bark and woodpecker damage, since the birds are attracted to the larvae.

Ash trees were planted on parkways during the 1970s and 1980s after elm trees were killed by Dutch elm disease.

The borer could be in a tree for three to five years before the tree shows symptoms, said Garrison.

He said many institutions are looking for solutions to this problem, and it is possible an effective and affordable solution will be found before Arlington Heights loses all its ash trees.