Treatment viable choice for ash trees

The ribbons placed on trees in Arlington Heights are to indicate ash trees that will be removed when they become infested with the emerald ash borer.

While other communities such as Naperville and Mount Prospect are injecting their trees in order to save them, Arlington Heights has decided to let them die and remove them.

The village has a stated strategy to remove ALL the ash trees in the next 3 to 6 years. That is 13,000 trees. Ash trees in the village account for more that 37 percent of the entire tree canopy. Some areas of the village areas are 100 percent ash and their removal will be devastating for those areas.

U.S. Forest Service research shows that for every 5 percent loss in tree canopy coverage, stormwater runoff will increase by 2 percent. That means residents will see 15 percent more stormwater dumped into their storm sewers and basements. Village blocks where ash trees will all come down will see home values drop as much as 10-15 percent due to the loss of large trees that canopy the street.

Injection materials are effective in stopping emerald ash borer, so effective that researchers from Michigan State have published papers showing that treatment to save ash trees is the most economical option, more economical than removal.

What is known is that all trees don’t have to be injected. Inject those areas with 100 percent ash where the loss will be most visible and detrimental. Inject high value trees.

Just because it is wrongly believed that it is too costly to inject all the trees doesn’t mean that some of the trees can’t be injected and saved.

Scott Jamieson

Arlington Heights