With Grant, Woodridge Reforesting to Replace Trees Lost to EAB

The following is a press release from the Village of Woodridge:

The Village was recently awarded a reforestation grant related to emerald ash borer (EAB) for $19,400 for the purchase of replacement trees. The grant work will be starting shortly and running through the fall of 2013.

The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) is a small, green metallic looking insect that has been impacting communities and ash trees across the Midwest.  EAB borers eat into the tree and lay eggs which create further tunnels through the tree’s internal systems, choking off the ability for a tree to deliver nutrients to its branches.

The Village has been working to plan and respond to EAB since 2007 by having its certified arborists inspect trees, along with removing and replacing diseased, misshapen, and/or poor form ash trees as well as smaller/healthy ash trees in geographic areas where the parkway trees were predominantly ash.  

The Village is also completing chemical injections on some additional ash trees. Since the long term efficacy of chemical injections is unknown, the Village is focusing its primary efforts on removal and replacement.  This effort ties directly to the overall goal of keeping a full canopy of trees while reducing the number of ash and further diversifying the tree inventory which provides the best defense against pests and disease.

If residents are undertaking chemical treatments of ash trees in the parkway, please contact the Public Works Department in order to provide information on what treatments are being used so they can be monitored by the Village’s certified arborists as well.  If a tree is responding well to chemical treatments it will not be removed, but if the health of the tree begins to fail, the tree will be removed regardless of the previous chemical treatments. 

If you have questions about your ash tree please contact Public Works supervisor Scott Sramek who oversees the forestry work, at 630-719-4753.

The reforestation grant is funded through the US Forest Service and is awarded and administered by a regional agency, the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus (MMC).  This was an extremely competitive process for communities in the Chicago-land area with 157 applications being submitted and the Village’s being one of only 30 that received funding. 

“This grant will assist in continuing to maintain and diversify our tree canopy inWoodridge, “stated Mayor Gina Cunningham.

The Village has nearly 11,000 Village owned trees to maintain and these forestry grant funds are part of over $5 million in grants obtained by the Village since 2009 that are being put toward various infrastructure projects, including road resurfacing as well as storm and sanitary sewer rehabilitation.

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