Arlington Heights Fighting EAB, Needs Residents’ Help

Arlington Heights has 13,000 ash trees in parkways and this winter alone has removed 500 trees struck down by the Emerald ash borer.

And there is a list of 500 more trees lining the village’s neighborhood streets that need to be removed.

“We are very busy and it’s a long list,” said Ashley Ellwanger, Arlington Heights forester technician.

The Forestry Department is trying to promote the village’s 50/50 Cost Share Program which reimburses residents who treat ash trees before Emerald ash borer (EAB) destroys more of the majestic trees.

Residents can sign up on the village’s website. The program runs through October and allows residents to be reimbursed 50 percent of treatment costs up to $50 per parkway tree if it is treated with a trunk injection of TREE-age, Ellwanger said.

So far, nearly 1,800 parkway ash trees have been treated and the village has reimbursed residents over $88,000, according to officials.

EAB is a beetle whose larvae destroy an ash tree’s vascular system, preventing the tree from getting water and nutrients, she said. EAB was discovered in Arlington Heights in 2009 but was probably in the village longer than that, she said. It first appeared in the region in 2006 in Naperville.

Treatment can work, Ellwanger said. In order for the Tree-age to work, it needs to be transported up a tree’s vascular, which is what the insect destroys. “If it’s too far infested, it won’t work,” she said. An arborist can determine if treatment will work, she said.

A homeowners association in the Northgate neighborhood treated about 360 parkway trees. It was one of the biggest successes the village has had saving the trees, she said. So far, the trees are doing well.

Ash trees are located all over the village; some neighborhoods have lost 30 to 40 trees, Ellwanger said. In one neighborhood, “we took about 10 or so out in a row. It was pretty devastating,” she said.

The trees are prevalent in Arlington Heights because “it was the ‘go to’ tree when development was high in the 50s and 60s after Dutch elm tree disease (hit). All developers planted ash trees. (The trees) were cheap, grew well and were widely available,” Ellwanger said.

Ash trees are very large and on aver have a base 18 inches wide, Ellwanger said. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t notice anything wrong with the tree until they notice it is gone, she said. Many people still don’t know what EAB is, she added.

“We really have tried to get the word out and tell them about this program but it seems like we’ve hit a wall,” she said.

The Forestry Department is still trying and will be holding more presentations about EAB and continue to let people know about the 50/50 program.

Arlington Heights will remove trees that are dying or are beyond treatment. It started an EAB fund in March 2012 and has started planning for replacement trees five years down the road. The village has secured 10,000 trees for the future, she said. The trees are replaced at no cost to residents. Many towns do not provide trees for free, she said.

The Forestry Department is planting different trees like oaks, Horse Chestnut and other species.

“There’s always an insect out there,” she said. The way to prevent infestation is have tree diversity so a disease or insect won’t have such a devastating affect, she said.