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News
Ash borer has 'decimated' Montgomery trees : News : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisAsh borer has 'decimated' Montgomery trees
| Arborist estimates 90 percent of parkway ash trees now infected
| by John Etheredge
| 3/7/2013
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The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) beetle has decimated ash trees in the Village of Montgomery since it was first discovered nearly three years ago, according to information presented to the village board this past week by Ed Pfaff, the village's arborist.
Pfaff estimated that 90 percent of the ash trees located in village-owed parkways are now infected with the EAB.
Mike Pubentz, the village's director of public works, told the village board in September 2010 that Illinois Department of Agriculture staffers had confirmed the first two infestations of the beetle in ash trees on the village's far west side.
Pubentz said one of the trees was located on the south end of a detention basin off Manchester Drive in the Blackberry Crossing Subdivision in the Kendall County section of the village, and the other infested tree was located along Fairfield Way in the Fairfield Way Subdivision near the village's water tower and well house.
Since that time the EAB has spread rapidly, infecting trees throughout the village, according to Pfaff.
"The population growth of the EAB has been exponential. It started out slow and then has grown very rapidly," he said.
The EAB was first detected in the United States in Michigan in 2002. The insect spread quickly to states in the east and Midwest. The first EAB infested trees found in Kane County were discovered in Lilly Lake in 2006, according to information provided by the department of agriculture.
Adult female EABs lay eggs in the bark and bark crevices of ash trees. When the eggs hatch the EAB larvae bore into the tree, cutting off water and nutrients that eventually kills the tree.
To combat the EAB, Pfaff said the village has removed 290 EAB infected parkway ash trees, beginning with 90 in 2010, 76 in 2011 and 124 last year. (The village is not responsible for removing or replacing trees on private property.)
There are currently an additional 123 ash trees in need of removal, Pfaff said.
He noted that ash trees were the tree of choice for developers of subdivisions on the village's far west side over the past decade.
"There are as many ash trees on the west side as we have total street trees on the east side," Pfaff said.
Pfaff said the cost of replacing the EAB infected trees is a continuing budget concern.
He estimated that it would cost about $10,000 for the replacement of about 37 trees.
"I purchase trees wholesale from local nurseries. I price them all out and try to find the best deals," Pfaff said.
In addition, he said he will continue to seek out grants to help defray the direct cost to local taxpayers.
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