What Should the City Do About the Emerald Ash Borer?

You have 7 options! What would you pick? Read this to learn what is a cambium, why you won’t want to where purple, what those purple triangle things are that you see and about some likely nasty chemicals! I couldn’t decide where to put my yellow dot. But I found the report helpful. You should take a look.

Here’s what they went over at the presentation last night . . . for the 7 attendees. 4 staff.

INTRODUCTION
Karl van Lith kicked it off by saying to the currently 5 of us who were there that were not city staff that he was filling in for Parks Superintendant Kevin Briski who was at command center on Olin St taking care of the presidential visit. [Seriously, was the presidential visit an important Parks issue?  And how does the Organizational and Training Facilitator guy fill in for the Parks Superintendent?   That seems screwy.  But Karl did a find job.]

Marla Eddy, the City Forester will talk about  forestry and the Emerald Ash Borer (EABO treatment.

Nancy Castillo was there to take notes.

Tim Fruit from the Comptrollers office was there to talk about money.

van Lith said that we have 7 options, they are here to ask for our input as to what is a viable approach.  Plan is to talk about options, they have been researching options and then they are holding three public meetings for input and then will make a recommendation that will go forward to decision makers, they are also coordinating with state and national strategy, it is mostly the eastern and northern part of the United States that is threatened.

Marla Eddy says this is the first of the three meetings.  The next meetings are:

Oct 21st – Central Library

Nov 3rd – Lussier Center

FORESTRY SERVICE
Eddy talks about the forestry service, she says they are professional arborists and public safety is their first priority.  They do public education on things that affect community, she shows a slide of a class at the Boys and Girls club on Allied where they show how to climb a tree.  They also are in charge of he new law that allows fines for contractors on street reconstruction projects that damage the trees.  They city plants 3,000 street trees a year.  They also celebrate Arbor Week and in 2008 they got an award from arborist association – the Silver Leaf Award – for using Arbor Week instead of Arbor Day.  The planting season is mud, sweat and trees.  They plant rain or shine, there are 718 miles of streets, 260 parks, a city cemetery, bike paths, 4 city golf course and 105,000 trees.

EMERALD ASH BORER
The Emerald Ash Borer is native to Asia, it is an exotic beetles. We didn’t have them until in 2002 when they discovered it in Detroit. At first they didn’t know why the trees were declining, no one knew for quite a while, then ash trees started dying, then they discovered the beetle. It is a metallic green bug, half inch long, no bigger than penny. There are some bugs you might see that could be a look-alike. This is a Japanese beetle that probably got here in the early 1990s . She shows a map of how the bug spread in the Detroit area. She shows the life cycle of the beetle. The larvae is the most damaging part, the larvae has bell shaped segments. In June they hatch from D shaped hole and emerge as the beetle, it does feed on leaves, but that is not the damaging part. It harms the trunk of the tree, the cambium, that is where the vessels of the tree are. They shows pictures of declining trees, there are other things that can cause trees to look thin, but not to the point where they continue to decline.

THE SPREADING OF EAB
She shows the map of how they spread throughout the United Sates
– 2002 in Detroit
– 2003, 2 more counties
– 2004 in northern Indiana
– 2006 in southern Indiana and Ohio
– 2007 Illinois, Pennsylvania
– 2008, Wisconsin Missouri
– 2009 New York and Minnesota
– 2010 Iowa

The discovery jumps around, the bug only flies a half mile radius during its life time, so how does it spread – people . Detroit didn’t know they had it, they took down the trees and used the wood, ash can be burned shortly after taken down, while still green, so people used it for firewood and hauled it to use it somewhere else.

Nationally they started a “Burn it where you buy it” campaign. They quarantine a county once EAB is found. At the state level its the DNR, and interstate the US Department of Agriculture looks at different states. They are researching how to address EAB, in Wisconsin, looking at purple traps, those are the purple triangle traps you see in the trees. They are getting better at finding the beetle, which contributes to us finding more infestations.

In 2008 Madison got a grant from the DNR to do a local response plan and now there is a task force for evaluating that plan and trying to figure out what to do. They are looking at costs and how it affects the community. They are introducing more species of street trees for diversity. They stopped planting Ash in 2006, they now use 41 different street trees. The nearest infestation is at Rock Cut State Park in Illinois, 64 miles from Madison.

QUESTIONS
Do they hop on vehicles? No, just wood. Gypsy moths spread by cars and are in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Why purple? They found out about the purple trap by accident. When the beetle is flying, under the wing is purple. The way they discovered it was someone was wearing purple.

OPTIONS
van Lith Karl explains they appointed a task force in 2008, the plan done and recently they started looking at it again.

Members of the committee are Ray Harmon (Mayor’s Office), Al Schumacher (Streets), Kevin Briski (Parks), Bill Vandenbrook (Fleet), Chris Kelley (Streets), Jim Winstrock (Parks), Tim Fruit (Comptrollers), Karl van Lith (Organization and Developent), Marla Eddy and others from forestry.

The members of the committee came up with 7 different ways to address the issue. These are not in any particular order which .

1. Remove infested trees as the become a public safety concern.
Remove infested trees once it has been confirmed. Removal of ash tress would begin in Oct and would continue throughout the winter months until March when the larvae is dormant, current research demonstrates that trees that show 40% or greater crown dieback are not treatable. [See the report for more details on pros and cons of each of the options.

2. Chemically treat all ash trees in healthy condition
They need to consider this cost over the life of the tree. There are three types of insecticides, Imidacloprid, Emamectin benzoate and Dinotefuran. [Say that three times fast, or even just once.]. For those trees showing more than 40% dieback they would not be treated, once they begin insecticide treatments you have to continue every two or three years for life of tree. The environmental impact of the insecticides used for protecting ash trees from EAB is unknown, research is on-going. The chemicals are not supposed to be used within 100 feet of water, and we have lots of lakes [and the chemicals could wash into the storm drains and go into the lakes, since the trees are right on the street]. They are keeping up on the research, working with UW and talking to other foresters. Research shows that EAB control with insecticides is less consistent with larger trees. We have 19,000 terrace trees, and if look at parkland its up to 30K and for private property you can double that number. 1/3 of our trees could be impacted.

What is a larger tree that chemicals might be less effective on? 25 inches or greater in diameter at 4.5 feet from the ground (DBH – Diameter at Breast Height). The studies have only done on smaller trees 14 – 15 inches and smaller, for bigger trees don’t know how much of a dose to use.

[Note, they will get to this, but trees that have been hacked by MG&E because of overhead lines would not be chemically treated, they are too damaged, its in the report and I ask about it later.]

3. Preemptive removal of 10 inches DBH or less trees; trees in poor condition and remove trees during infrastructure improvements. Removals would have replacement trees and chemical treatment would only occur on legacy and high value trees.
Preemptive removal of 10 inches or if they are in poor condition, or if they can replace during infrastructure improvements, chemically treat only legacy and high value trees of a significant size or historic in value. High value trees might be those in in highly visible areas. They remind us, the long term environmental effect of chemical treatments are unknown.

4. Preemptive removal of 10 inches DBH or less trees; trees in poor condition and remove trees during infrastructure improvements. Replace removed trees, but do not chemically treat any trees.
Preemptive removal for 10 inches or less, no chemical treatment – this can be planned for cost wise, also will replace with more diverse species. However, the planting season is limited, they only have a few weeks in spring and fall. They don’t want to remove the canopy, would replace as you go. They note that sufficient funding must be available – we know what it takes to take down tree and replace it. Can plan for it better for long term.

5. Remove and replace ash trees systematically and preemptively, anticipating that EAB will eventually arrive in Madison.
Remove terrace ash tree and replace, preemptively, anticipate that EAB will come, there are no size restrictions. They asked the UW to look at Asia and other places where the beetles are indigenous species, they lose 40% of their trees, half don’t survive, this is a nasty critter. If we know it will hit here, which makes sense cuz it has gone all around us, it might already be here, since locating it can be hard. This we can plan for and fix costs, but sufficient funding must be available.

The have maps of the trees that would be affected, should be on the internet soon, not available yet. They have the maps available so they can show those who attend the presentation how it will impact them.

Removal would take place over a few years, they would replace those in poor condition first. Those with trunk wounds (including those trimmed for overhead wires) and those with 50% or more die back. Then they would do the fair and good trees. The reason the ones trimmed for overhead lines are considered in poor condition is that 1/4 to 1/3 of the crown of the tree is gone.

6. Allow Homeowners to voluntarily enter into agreement with the City of Madison to treat city owned trees.
With this option the tree canopy is retained, but they have to treat every two to three years, no 100% success rate cuz it would be voluntary, also don’t know ecological impact of pesticides, and trees with trunk wounds or poor condition ratings would not be treated. The reason for that is that with trunk wounds you are asking the tree to take up a chemical and at that point in time has to be enough of the cambium to take up the chemical and if missing a portion of the bark limits ability of tree to take up the chemical.

7. Any combination of the above.
They say you can mix and match.

OTHER INFO AND QUESTIONS
Who would do the chemical treatments for the homeowners? Would you have a list of arborists and let homeowners find a certified applicator? Karl says a little of both, can got to store and buy for chemicals for $35, but other chemicals need the certification.

Are all the pesticides equal in their affect? There are concerns about buying off the shelf, homeowner might think it is just as effective, but it might not be. Eddy says that all the details have not been worked out yet, they are just general interest if so desired to save the city trees.

Some of the treatments go in the soil and some go in the tree.

There are 5.4M trees in Wisconsin, 22% of Madison street trees are ash or 22K trees, 20K or more ash trees on park property, 30% of Madison’s privately owned trees are ash. Average life span is 30 to 40 years, landscape and street trees increase property values and the quality of life in the neighborhoods. They have an economic as well as ecological impact.

They point out what you can do:
– Don’t haul fire wood
– Get educated on EAB
– Support city forestry program
– Burn it where you buy it
– Diversify the trees in your private landscape

What about city chipping the trees? Eddy says that it is ok if one inch or less in surface, they have had the wood chips checked out, the beetles can’t survive in one inch or less.

The state and city have websites or you can go to Emeraldashborer.info for more information.

How does it work if you treat your trees and others don’t? How will it work on the border areas to work with our neighbors? Eddy says it is a challenge to find out how many trees we have, trying to id by taking photographs of s city by airplane, hyper-spectral red imaging – they can get the marker of the ash tree, city of Milwaukee did something, they were 70% accurate as far as figuring out where ash might be, private company and uw also doing it.

Woman clarifies question – should she treat her trees if have many next door that are not treated. Eddy says there is an ordinance for EAB, Oak Wilt and Dutch Elm disease, if they are infested city could condemn it, but if can prove treatment for the tree, then maybe not. The treatment for the trees impact the tree itself because of the way it is administered, so your tree could be saved if the neighbors don’t treat their trees.

Which chemicals have to be done every year or 2 or 3? Two products are used every year, the product for 2 or 3 years is a restricted use pesticide, that needs certification and licensing, the other two can purchase yourself or the city can treat for you – they are not using trade names, if follow the rules of treating every year, if it is applied properly, it should work, the research says it is ok.

Why are chemicals restricted, because of injection? No, it is the chemical itself. It is temporarily ok but expected to be restricted in Wisconsin, not in other places. The Department of Agriculture decides what is restricted in Wisconsin. This chemical is injected in the root flair, you have to have a certain amount of injection holes, key is they don’t know how many times drill hole and leave plug behind without harming the tree. It can cost $20 – 62 per year, and the treatment depends upon the weather, it could take all day or can go quickly, tree has its own schedule, high humidity, draught, cloudy, etc can all impact it.

SHOW ME THE MONEY
They point out the chart, that is the city costs for the chemicals and the chart basically says the following:
– Imidacloprid is soil injection or drench in mid=fall and/or mid to late spring, has to be done annually and costs about $20/yr.
– Dinotefuran is a systemic bark spray or soil injection, early May through June, done annually and costs about $35/yr.
– Emamectin benzoate is a trunk injection in early May through June, done every two years and costs about $62.40 every two years.

Tim Fruit talks about charts in the back, they used a tool from Purdue University, loaded in the number of trees we have. They did inventory by tree size. It costs about $1.56 per inch to treat and $20/inch to remove, it would take 5 years to remove. It would cost $1.7M per year for 5 years, or $8.1M over 5 years. To remove and replace it would cost $2.8M per year, and over 5 years $13.1M

Treatment would cost $437K per year and continue for life of trees, they live 25 – 30 years in a terrace. He shows the charts that show the cumulative costs over time, they graphed 25 years, but at the 18 year mark they spent enough on chemical budget to remove the trees, they could have removed and replaced all the trees, but short term it is the cheapest. But it could be the most expensive longer term, in addition to environmental issues.

They can do small trees only – those numbers were only terrace trees – it costs on only $20 per inch to remove – the costs are much smaller – $300K per year for 5 years, $1.5M all small trees gone, replacement is $3.3M, chemical treatment would be a smaller cost, $91K to $2.8M over 25 years just for chemical bill.

WHAT WOULD YOU DECIDE?
I couldn’t decide. I went for systemic removal, but I would do it slowly over time and make sure you didn’t do more than 20% of the trees on a block at one time. I don’t like the idea of chemicals in the lake and not knowing what the long term effects of them are . . . but I don’t feel good about my choice.