The De-Greening of Arlington Heights: Emerald Ash Borer
Which Blog:
Green Choices
Have you noticed the ribbons tied on so many of the trees in Arlington Heights? Imagine if all of those trees ended up being removed. The Emerald Ash Borer beetle [1] has now set up shop in AH and is threatening the aesthetics of our beautiful tree-lined streets. To see what a street might look like after the trees are removed, check out the photos from Mt. Prospect. [2] This is the dilemma our village is currently facing.
There are over 13,000 ash trees on public property in Arlington Heights. One-third of those line all of our parkways. This figure doesn’t even address how many are in homeowners’ yards. Many residents do not even know if they have ash trees.
There has never been a better time to live up to our village motto, "City of Good Neighbors”, as we work together to do everything we can to stare down this natural disaster. A good place to start is to join in the community conversation about EAB [3] at the library on Tuesday, March 20 at 7 p.m. in the Hendrickson Room.
There is a lot to understand about this challenge and Scott Schirmer, Plant and Pesticide Specialist with the IL Department of Agriculture [4]will be discussing EAB and the options that are available to help preserve our neighborhood's trees. Dru Sabatello, Forester for Arlington Heights will also be present to talk about the impact on the village and the People’s Choice Program. [3]