All Saint Paul's Ash Trees Gone in Five Years?

All of Saint Paul's Ash Trees Gone in Five Years?

I'm walking our Lex-Ham neighborhood in Saint Paul with my friend and neighbor Leben McCormick. He's a tree-man who works for Rainbow Tree. I'm a tree-lover who over 30 years has planted ten trees on a lot not bitter than a long postage stamp. When you grow up in tree-swamped Charleston, South Carolina, it's hard to be happy with only one boulevard tree.

Leben and I are making a rough tabulation of how many ash trees we have in this neighborhood area, roughly four blocks from Lexington Ave on the east to the Short Line on the west, and six or seven blocks from Summit Avenue on the north to Marshall Avenue on the south. I guess that half the blocks (like mine) are planted almost exclusively with ash trees, some as wide around as two or three of me. This is a scary revelation, though not one I haven't noticed. Just not thought about addressing.

Recently up and down Summit Avenue, threes in the wide medium I so appreciate have begun sporting green plastic rings. Suspecting this wasn't a good sign (you don't live though the elm tree blitz and not recognize the warning signalt). But Leben is somewhat encouraging. The rings are there to alert us to how many ash trees we have. When I finally have the nerve to go read what the rings say, I find a simple and devastating message: “Ash borers kill trees.” Since the Ash borer made its way from Asia in 2003, thousands of U.S. communities have lost “hundreds of millions of Ash trees” (http://www.emeraldashborer.info/). Take a drive down Beechwood Avenue in Highland to see what a “naked” street looks like without its crown of green.

Luckily, unlike communities in more southern parts of the U.S., we in the Twin Cities have experienced a recent severe winter that has slowed the progress of the borers. Thus, we have an opportunity to protect our canopy of green and preserve its beautiful, cooling summer shade, beautifying our neighborhoods and lowering the cost of air-conditioning.

                       

The treatment against the Ash borer is an “injection” of an insecticide that protects each tree for two to three years. In some cases, trees already infected can also be treated. Once the borer takes hold, however, it will eventually kill unprotected trees. It is better to treat the Ash trees when they are still healthy. At our house, we've been treating our boulevard Ash for a number of years.

Knowing that the opportunity to protect our Ash trees is narrowing, Leben has concocted an offer, which at this point will be available to residents in Lex-Ham. But might possibly be extended citywide. The offer include a 10% discount on treatment of ash trees for groups who treat 10 trees, and 20% discounts for those who treat 20 trees. It seems like the right time to take action while our trees are still healthy.

See also recent article in Pioneer Press

But many many residents will not treat their ash trees. Just as many did not treat their elms. No on the subject of elms, Leben and I identify a recent elm that has been hypridized to have greater resistance to the borer than the American Elm. These trees are about 10 years old, I'm guessing, not at all the lofty shady giants that occasionally still tower over our streets. It's truly an act of charity and neighborliness to treat these big elms. There are a few on my block, and Leben and I find a pair that are almost kissing across the air, so tall as to obscure the sun.

Briefly I consider how these denizens of our lives become neighbors, yes, and even members of our inner lives--of outlooks and inlooks. Of hopes and dreams, beliefs and sanity. I don't want my block to look like a war zone. I want to help protect as many of our neighborly ash trees as I can, with the help of a few friends.