Glen Ellyn ready to attack the ash borers

Glen Ellyn is determined to win the emerald ash borer beetle battle.

At Monday night's workshop meeting, village leaders discussed an Ash Reduction and Maintenance Program, which would help protect roughly 12 percent of the village's parkway ash trees.

This fall Glen Ellyn plans to kick off the program, which would entail removing weak ash trees and planting other species at their locations. The village also hopes to begin a chemical treatment procedure using Merit, a fairly new type of insecticide. Trees in good to excellent condition would be chemically treated with the product, which has been proven to provide protection against the beetle. The yearly treatment also would begin this fall.

"We're currently trying to identify which trees we need to take down first," Public Works Director Joe Caracci said.

Last summer, the emerald ash borer was found in Glendale Heights, about a mile from Glen Ellyn. The beetles also have been found in Batavia and unincorporated Kane County, Geneva and Carol Stream.

The borer's larvae feast on the trunks of ash trees, cutting off their ability to transport nutrients and causing the trees to die. So far, the borer is blamed for the loss of about 25 million ash trees in North America.

If Glen Ellyn decides to participate in the program, the current tree removal contract would increase by $40,000, bringing the contract's total amount to $120,000. The village also would pay about $9,000 for the chemical application of Merit to an undetermined number of trees.

Caracci said leaders want to give Merit a shot.

"Is this a waste of money,?" he said. "It could be, but we don't know yet."

The village is trying to take a systematic approach to fighting the battle.

"This is going to be an ongoing program," Caracci said, "as long as the emerald ash borers are around."