The dreaded emerald ash borer, killer of countless ash trees, arrives in Woodbury
Published 11:48 am Sunday, October 1, 2017
By Bob Shaw
Pioneer Press
The Minnesota tree-killing hitchhiker known as the emerald ash borer has arrived in Woodbury.
The first of the metallic-green bugs was seen in a tree in the parking lot of the Woodbury 10 Theatre, city officials reported Thursday.
“I was not surprised by this — it is all around us,” said Bob Klatt, director of the city’s parks and recreation. “Most likely, there are other places in the community that we aren’t aware of yet.”
The insect has been slowly spreading throughout the metro area, leaving a trail of dead ash trees in its wake.
“It’s really pretty inevitable,” Klatt said.
The ash borer was first reported near Detroit in 2002, and went on to destroy more than 30 million trees in Michigan.
But the greatest potential harm is in Minnesota, because it has more ash trees than any other state — 1 billion.
The insect was first found in Minnesota in 2009 in St. Anthony. In 2014, it was found in Lebanon Hills Regional Park in Eagan, and later in Hastings, Apple Valley, West St. Paul and Mendota Heights. Across the state, it has been reported in 12 counties.
The bug isn’t particularly good at spreading by itself — infestations usually advance no more than one mile per year. But it has found helpers — people with wood-burning stoves or fireplaces.
The ash borers survive when a dead ash tree is cut down, and when the firewood is hauled away, the bug rides along to propagate in a new location.
Klatt said that for the past five years, Woodbury has been planning for the arrival of the beetle. The city stopped planting new ash trees on city property, and discourages private property owners from planting them.
The city has a rotational program to trim trees on a five-year cycle, and has been weeding out ash trees as they perform the routine trimming, he said.
Klatt said that individual ash trees can be treated with insecticide every one to three years. “It may be worth it, for the shade or the value it provides,” said Klatt. But it’s too expensive to consider for the thousands of trees in Woodbury.
