Naperville perseveres in fight against ash borer
By Susan Frick Carlman scarlman@stmedianetwork.com February 22, 2013 3:26PM
A fully developed emerald ash borer beetle glitters in the sun. | Sun-Times Media file photo
By the
numbers
16,300
Parkway ash trees in the city of Naperville.
94 percent
Proportion of the parkway ash trees that thus far show little or no damage from the emerald ash borer.
$833,074
Total allocated by the city for fiscal 2013 and 2014 to fight the invasive EAB.
Source: City of
Naperville
Updated: March 25, 2013 6:37AM
Emerald ash borers best beware. Naperville’s not messing around.
The City Council this week agreed to put an additional $355,321 into the effort to eradicate the highly destructive green beetle. The sum represents a 25 percent reduction from the outlay last year, when the strategy was shifted to treat pre-emptively even the healthiest city-owned trees in parkways.
The Department of Public Works also took a more aggressive approach to the bugs, assessing the parkway ash trees on a five-point scale. Even those deemed in good condition were earmarked for continued monitoring and treatment. Those on the other end of the spectrum, only about one percent of all of those examined, were marked for removal.
The insect containment program, which targets the borers’ larvae, begins in spring and goes into early summer. The pair of contracts approved recently, to The Care of Trees in Naperville and Lake Bluff-based Kinnucan Tree Experts and Landscape Co., represent the first of two one-year extensions of the original agreements.
City Manager Doug Krieger acknowledged at a past budget workshop, in preparation for fiscal 2013, that the emerald ash borer problem is potentially a big one, and its remedy should be expected to come with a similarly sized price tag.
“It’s very expensive in year one,” Krieger said. “It’s one year of a lot of pain, followed by many years of a little pain.”
More information about the EAB, including treatment options for ash trees situated on privately owned land, can be found at naperville.il.us/eab.aspx.
