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Ash Borer Costs Climb as Trees Come Down

Thursday, 18 October 2012 11:26

It's not a matter of if it will cost the city money, but how much? The cost of fighting the Ash Borer Beetle will start to escalate tonight. City Council is being asked to approve 50-thousand dollars to be taken out of their Invasive Pest Strategy Reserve. With 40-thousand already used this year, the fund that once contained $110-thousand will be nearly sapped dry. The money will be used to cut down dozens of dead ash trees in the west end. The city will be hiring a company do cut down and remove the trees, as the work is just too much for city workers. Earlier this week the city closed the Youth Start and Lions walking trails due to similar safety concerns. As Mayor Pat Sobeski points out, they need to be taken out now before they pose a serious safety risk. "As you drive out on the west end of town and when you drive under the rail underpass, as people take a look on the right, there's a long line of trees, those are all Ash. And certainly they can come down because theoretically they can come down on the road and liability is always a concern with any municipality. Sobeski says there's really no telling how high the cost of fighting the borer could climb. "Back 3 or 4-years ago there were numbers being floated around: a half-million dollars, a million dollars to replace, so it is a significant cost, but we value our trails and we want people out walking the trails and they want them as natural as possible."

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