The City of Sheboygan has confirmed the presence of Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) in the city. On March 23, 2016, DNR officials confirmed that an ash tree, removed by the DPW tree crew in the 2400 block of Ontario Avenue, was infested with the EAB. This is the first confirmed EAB detection in the city and the farthest north detection in Sheboygan County. Since the first find, crews have also found EAB in two additional areas: Lakeview Park and at N. 17th Street and New Jersey Avenue along the Sheboygan River.
The Urban Forest of Sheboygan provides a multitude of aesthetic, economical, and environmental benefits to citizens, businesses, and visitors alike. In 2015, the city received a $21,900 Wisconsin DNR Urban Forestry grant to prepare an urban forestry management plan with an EAB component, conduct a tree planting site inventory, and purchase tree inventory software. The City of Sheboygan has a total of 22,154 street trees, 5,139 or 23 percent of the trees are Ash trees and susceptible to Emerald Ash Borer infestation.
The management plan is now complete, and was presented to the City Council for inclusion in the City budget. The plan laid out the next steps the city will take to handle the EAB infestation. Insecticide treatments, tree removals and re-planting with other tree species are all included in this plan.
The primary goals for the city urban forestry program is to eliminate and remove high risk trees, prune high-risk branches and remove or manage EAB infected Ash trees. Secondary program goal is to establish a routine, comprehensive urban forestry program promoting a healthy forest. This goal would be achieved by performing yearly tree inspections, perform routine pruning and removal of non-ash trees and planting replacement high quality low maintenance trees.
There are three options available to a community:
- Remove all ash trees from the public forest
- Save all the ash trees through the use of chemical treatments
- A blend of options 1 & 2:
- Remove the ash trees that have a trunk diameter smaller than 12 inches
- Chemically treat the desirable ash trees that have a trunk diameter greater than 12 inches and are in good health
- This is the choice that Sheboygan has selected since it allows fully grown ash trees to be a component of the urban forest and will reduce the high initial cost of tree removal
An annual forestry program has been proposed that would remove 750 Ash trees at a cost of $300,000, treat 930 Ash trees for $94,392, plant 500 new trees at $150,000 and prune 2,750 or about an eighth of the tree stock. The annual cost of this program would be $544,392. This program would need to continue at this level for three years, in the fourth year we would only need to chemically treat the remaining Ash trees once every three years.
Although City currently has 22,154 street trees, there are currently approximately 3,700 available spaces to plant trees that have not been replaced due to the demands of existing forestry operations. The Forestry Division is averaging 500 tree removals per year – not related to Emerald Ash Borer – which will only add to this burden. We need to begin aggressive planting program to begin restore the urban forest that our residents have come to enjoy
An EAB public informational meeting was held in April, Bill McNee, DNR Forest Health Specialist in Plymouth, provided information on EAB, how the pest will affect local ash trees , and the options homeowners have to treat or remove the trees located on their property. This presentation can be viewed at bit.ly/2aZ5ube. EAB Information and several resources are also posted on sheboyganwi.gov.