Winnetka will plant 59 new trees this year thanks to a federal grant to combat the invasive Emerald Ash Borer insect that is ravaging the Chicago area’s forest.
A $10,000 assistance grant from the United States Department of Agriculture was awarded to Winnetka on Feb. 16, said Village Manager Rob Bahan, who announced the award at the village council’s March 1 meeting.
Other New Trier Township communities were also the recipients of the grant, including Wilmette ($20,000), Northfield ($14,000) and Glencoe ($10,000).
Bahan thanked U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) for his efforts in providing the reforestation grant, which was distributed through the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus.
Winnetka plans to use the funding to plant 59 new trees to replace some of the many ash trees found to be infested with emerald ash borer. The new trees will be selected specifically to complement the planting site and to diversify the urban canopy, Village Forester Jim Stier said, in a press release.
The local grants were part of more than $1 million in federal funding distributed to 58 communities in Illinois through a competitive grant program spearheaded by the Morton Arboretum and Metropolitan Mayors Caucus.
In a September interview, Stier said he’d watched the amount of time he devotes to responding to emerald ash borer escalate sharply since the bug was first identified in the village in 2006.
Through the first eight months of 2010, there were 76 ash trees cut down due to EAB, he said at the time. In 2007, the first full year after the insect had been identified locally, only 31 trees were removed.
“I think it’s going to get worse,” Stier said. “Especially if we have milder winters.”
Stier estimates ash trees make up 15 percent of the village’s total urban forest population.
Last year, Winnetka budgeted $75,000 for tree removals and another $15,000 to treat ash trees afflicted with the EAB.
There are several signs of emerald ash borer infestation:
* Bark is stripped away, particularly due to woodpeckers trying to eat the larvae just under the surface.
* The tree starts dying from the top, as the borer prevents water and nutrients from traveling upward.
* New branches sprout from the tree’s base, as it tries to stay alive.
* Small, quarter-inch D-shaped holes in the trunk, where the emerald ash borer exited after laying larvae eggs just underneath the outer layer of bark.
Winnetka residents can get more information on emerald ash borer disease, or report an infected tree, by calling Winnetka Village Forester Jim Stier at (847) 716-3535.
