In the News

Daily Herald, November 12, 2006

The timing couldn't have been better.

Just days after a quarantine of ash trees was imposed on parts of northern Cook County, local officials will meet Monday to discuss regional strategies to attack the emerald ash borer.

The meeting was requested by state Sens. Cheryl Axley and Susan Garrett and state Reps. Elaine Nekritz and Carolyn Krause and organized by the Northwest Municipal Conference. It will take place at Mount Prospect village hall at 1 p.m.

The discussion will include experts discussing procedures for eradication and potential funding sources for the effort.

The emerald ash borer beetle, a native of Asia, has killed more than 20 million ash trees in North America since 2002, cutting a swath through Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Maryland.

This year, the beetle was found in Kane County, Wilmette, Evanston and Winnetka. Last week, the state agriculture department quarantined 64 square miles of northern Cook County - from the Lake County line to the northern city limit of Chicago and from I-294 east to Lake Michigan.

"The quarantine was expanded to prevent the most common cause of the beetle's spread - the inadvertent movement of infested wood products," Department Director Chuck Hartke said.

Local foresters believe the beetle’s itinerary ultimately will include the Northwest suburbs.

"Most likely we're going to see this insect pop up in a lot more communities outside the North Shore," said David Hull, of Mount Prospect's forestry/grounds division.

If so, it could wind up eating into local budgets. In Mount Prospect, it is estimated the cost could be $2.7 million over three to six years, for tree replacement and stump removal.

Mount Prospect has cooperated in the Morton Arboretum’s efforts to survey local trees for the beetle’s presence.

"The one thing we don't want to do is have a repeat of some of the things that happened in Michigan," said Warren Goetsch, the agriculture department's division manager of natural resources.

In Michigan, he said, they would draw a circle with a radius of ¨ mile and cut every ash tree within it, only to find the beetle outside the cut zone.

Instead, Goetsch said, "We're trying to determine, with the best methodologies we have, the extent of the infestation." That includes sampling the trees around the quarantine area for signs of the beetle.