Montgomery Eyes Grant to Fight Ash Borer

It may seem too early in the year to start worrying about the emerald ash borer. But Director Mike Pubentz already is thinking about how he’s going to deal with an infestation on the village’s west side come spring.

Pubentz has applied for a $10,000 state grant to help with the infestation, which he said affects at least 100 trees. That money would pay to remove and replace 40 of those trees, Pubentz said. He expects to hear back from the state by the end of next week.

The emerald ash borer is a beetle that, in its larva stage, burrows through the soft wood of ash trees and kills them from the inside. Adult ash borers lay eggs in the crevices of ash tree bark, and when the larvae hatch, they chew their way deep into the trees.

Ash borers were first discovered in North America in 2002, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Since then the infestation has spread to 14 states, including Illinois.

The Illinois Department of Agriculture has placed 23 counties under quarantine, including Kane and Kendall, rendering it illegal to move ash wood (or firewood) to non-quarantined counties.

In Montgomery the infested trees are clustered around a few neighborhoods, Pubentz said. He added, however, that it can sometimes take two to three years for a tree to show signs of ash borer damage, and the village has around 1,700 ash trees.

“This could be the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

Why is Pubentz concerned about this in February, when the village wouldn’t start removing and replacing trees until spring?

The 2012 budget process is under way, and that $10,000 grant is in the proposed spending plan. Without it, dealing with the ash borer infestation could be much more difficult.

“We’d have to start some removal, whether or not we get the grant,” Pubentz said. “If we don’t get it, we’ll have to re-evaluate.”

 Montgomery's 2012 budget is expected to pass by the end of April, and takes effect May 1.

Pubentz said his preference is to replace the trees his team removes.

“We don’t want to leave neighborhoods with big open spots,” he said.

Montgomery was one of many municipalities statewide to create an ash borer readiness plan, which the village completed in 2007. The state has its own readiness plan, drafted in 2006, and has offered cities, towns and villages financial help in dealing with the problem.

But the infestation is getting worse, according to Lindsay Ivanyi, a forest pest outreach and survey program coordinator at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle.

She would know—her job is to connect with governments and give them the tools they need to combat the problem, and she sees monthly maps of ash borer sightings across the state. The most recent of those maps was drawn in February, and shows widespread sightings of ash borer damage.

Every community’s solution to the problem may be different, she said, depending on several factors, including money. Although there are chemicals that can treat ash trees infested with the beetle, Ivanyi said results of long-term tests are not consistent enough to recommend that method over straight removal of the trees.

“No one can call a certain chemical or method of treatment a cure-all,” she said.

Ivanyi emphasized the importance of support, financial and otherwise, from the state and other entities—particularly for smaller communities such as Montgomery, ones with the knowledge to combat the ash borer but without the funds to do so effectively.

Good use of state money, she said, would pave the way for more grants to come to the local level.

“Without that support those communities have no chance,” she said.