IOWA VIEW

Emerald ash borer: Treating, instead of killing, trees can save millions of dollars

Jason Brauckman
jbrauckman@wrightoutdoorsolutions.com

In the last 50 years, nothing has been better for the Midwest tree business than the emerald ash borer. That’s too bad, because that revenue comes primarily from cutting down mature trees that shade our neighborhoods and beautify our towns.

The emerald ash borer is a beautiful but lethal little beetle that drills into trees, leaving progeny that will multiply and spread just under the bark until the tree can longer breathe. This brilliant green assassin is a perfect killing machine. It infests 100 percent of ash trees (one out of five urbans trees are ash) and every ash tree that is infested dies within a handful of years unless some action is taken.

The Iowa Legislature is now considering legislation that would make that action possible for hundreds of towns throughout our state. The Invasive Forest Pest Revolving Loan Program would facilitate towns starting up a treatment program by loaning small amounts that would have to be paid back. This would allow towns to buy equipment, train staff and treat trees now in the path of the emerald ash borer. Or if they don’t have staff to treat, they can hire a tree care company. The most effective treatment methods are more than 99 percent effective.

State funding of loans is important because the borer is an extraordinary event — an environmental disaster — for which towns have neither budgeted nor planned. There’s no way they could have planned for this. There’s just enough money to get treatment programs started in areas already infested, and then those towns can pay back their loans over a couple years, which funds other towns. In the end, the state will be made whole, which is how government should work.

The penny pinchers say the death of the ash is inevitable, so don’t throw good money after bad. The quick math is that it costs more than $1,000 to remove and replace a mature parkway tree. A few thousand trees is a few million dollars for towns that don’t have that kind of money lying around. It costs Kansas City about $80 to treat a mature tree every three years, or less than $30 per year.

The reason groups like the Society of Municipal Arborists and leading researchers studying this issue push treatment is because of the substantial environmental, economic and life benefits of doing so. It benefits communities to keep mature trees around because they help with storm water management and lessen energy bills. The trees themselves are a capital asset, which for a city like Des Moines runs into the millions of dollars.

It makes no sense to spend millions to remove an asset worth millions when that asset can be preserved for thousands. And it’s unfair to homeowners whose homes will decrease in value while their energy costs rise.

Iowa has the benefit of lessons learned from other states quickly overwhelmed by emerald ash borer. A small loan — not a handout — can make a huge difference in managing an unfortunate and costly environmental issue now besetting our urban forests.

JASON BRAUCKMAN is a board-certified master arborist and account manager at Wright Outdoor Solutions. Contact: jbrauckman@wrightoutdoorsolutions.com