By Marney Simon | Enterprise Staff
Over the past several years, the emerald ash borer has decimated trees throughout the Midwest. Plainfield was unable to escape the damage, losing thousands of ash trees that once adorned neighborhood parkways.
In August, Director of Public Works Allen Persons gave an update of the ongoing parkway tree replacement program to members of the village board.
The village will spend an additional $200,000 for 800 parkway trees, replacing decimated ash trees that were removed between fall 2017 and spring 2018.
It’s a long-time, tedious project that is finally nearing the finish line.
“When we first encountered this challenge with the emerald ash borer approximately seven to 10 years ago when we started out with this issue, within the village we had over 5,000 parkway trees that were ash trees that ultimately were affected by the emerald ash borer,” Persons said “Ninety percent of the trees that were infected were removed by our own staff. If you look back to 2015, we actually rented an additional chipper, utilized our seasonal help in the summertime, and removed over 1,700 trees one summer.
So, that was quite a feat for the department to undertake.”
Persons said that as of the end of 2017, the village had managed to remove 4,975 ash trees, and have pulled out an additional 100 trees during this year’s spring and summer seasons.
The ash tree removals started before the village had cash for replacement trees, so the village has been playing catch up when it comes to replanting. But, Persons said, the village is getting close to having nearly all the destroyed trees replaced.
“Not only have we removed those trees in a timely fashion and a safe fashion for the public, but we’ve also planted as a community 4,229 new trees,” he said. “We’re getting close to the finish line, and there will always be new trees that need to be replaced throughout the community. But, as far as the emerald ash borer is concerned, I believe, I know as a community we’ve done a very good job in addressing this issue.”
The trees purchased by the board will be planted this fall. Persons said after this season, there remain just 200 or so infested parkway ash trees yet to be removed.
Persons noted that some homeowners have actually paid to treat their parkway trees to rid them of the emerald ash borers. In cases where those treatments have been successful, the village will allow those trees to remain in place.
“It’s a good feeling, because it was a daunting task when we started this approximately six or seven years ago,” Persons said, adding a special thank you to public works and the forestry division for their efforts removing and replacing the trees over the past several years.
Persons said that at the start of the removal process, approximately 30 percent of the village’s trees were ash trees. The village has utilized 15 to 20 different species of trees as replacements, hopefully eliminating the pest problem in the future while adding variety to the parkways.