Evanston aldermen are scheduled tonight to approve a contract to buy 250 new parkway trees that in part will replace ash trees lost to disease.
About a quarter of the $61,000 purchase price of the trees will be covered by an urban forest restoration grant the city recently received through the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus.
It’s to be used this spring to replace about 100 of the ash trees removed in recent months because of the Emerald Ash Borer infestation.
But the disease has forced the city to cut down 500 ash trees over the past year, so the new purchase will only be a start at replacing the trees that have been lost.
Most of the other trees to be replaced were lost because of storm damage last year.
A list by ward and street address of the trees to be replaced is available online.
Update 9:50 a.m. 4/25/12: Aldermen approved the tree purchase contract without debate Monday night.
Above: Tree stumps on Oakton Street east of Sherman Avenue. (Mike Perlman photo)
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Trees and NU
If people have not noticed NU has been cutting down a number of trees esp. in front of the Deering Library [and elsewhere]. With all the trees that have to be taken down because of disease, I hope the reason for NU's action is that they were diseased, but I hear it maybe because of the new entry to Deering Library.
It takes many years for trees to grow and current trees if healthy can contribute to the enviornment. A few years ago NU took trees down in front of 'Tech' to create a new plaza. Yes the Plaza looks nice but the trees are gone and any trees planted to 'make-up' for the Tech and Deering trees will take many years to really be a replacement.
For some odd reason NU has also been getting rid of a lot of bushes. I hope they know what they are doing—I sure don't.
And in the time it took you
And in the time it took you to speculate (and speculate) about what NU is doing with its trees, bushes, and the entrance to Deering Library, you could have had all your questions answered by contacting someone on the university's grounds upkeep/landscaping staff.
Evanston mismanagement of Emerald Ash
The City of Chicago, Naperville, Gurnee and many others adopted treatment strategies to deal with emerald ash borer.
Chicago estimates that it costs $1,050 to remove and replace a parkway ash. That is roughly what Skokie and Evanston have been paying.
Chicago also estimates that it costs $59 to treat an ash, and plans to treat every three years. In other words, keep its population of mature ash trees for $20 per tree per year. That's 2% of $1,050. Evanston could treat and keep trees for less than the interest on the principal if the money to cut is invested.
The research on treatment has been clear for years. Evanston and Skokie and their arborists chose to ignore what the leading researchers said in 2009 and instead experiment with unproven strategies.
It's criminal and now Evanston is scrambling to get others to pay for its mistake.