Earlier this month Roselle, Illinois City Council voted to save 635 of their parkway ash trees out of approximately 1,700 that were inventoried under a Federal grant they had obtained earlier in 2011. The Emerald Ash Borer Treatment contract was awarded to Emerald Tree Care LLC. A story recently broke about what the village is doing as well as one of its neighbors, Carol Stream, Illinois. While Roselle is treating their ash trees for under $30,000 per year, Carol Stream is planning on removing theirs at a cost of about $2.25 million dollars. One has to wonder why one city can view this problem so much differently than another when the financial repercussions are drastically different, and in one case like Roselle, you get to keep the existing trees!
Starting back at “Ground Zero” for the Emerald Ash Borer in Michigan in 2002, board certified master arborist Wayne White was able to start treatments for Emerald Ash Borer that have stood the test of time. The Somerset Collection in Troy, Michigan is one of those sites. Nearly 300 ash trees have survived at this site at the corner of Big Beaver Rd and Coolidge highway. The City of Troy, Michigan lost over 18,000 of it’s city parkway ash trees to this foreign invasive insect. Yet many visitors, from arborists to various City managers in other states, have traveled to tour this site and see these ash, which have not only survived but are flourishing! If you have an ash tree that you don’t want to lose, contact Wayne White, Board Certified Master Arborist at 630-480-4090 or via email at emeraldtreecarellc@gmail.com