Written by: Joe Kerlin, Superintendent of Parks & Forestry
If you have driven past Lakeview Park, on the south side at 3201 Lakeshore Drive, lately, you may have noticed that it looks quite different with 61 ash trees recently removed. This is in addition to the 80 ash trees that were removed from the woods in the park in 2018. The City of Sheboygan Forestry Department has plans to replace many of these trees.
The Emerald Ash Borer is alive and well in the City of Sheboygan. The borer was found in the City of Sheboygan in the spring of 2016. Authorities on the ash borer say that once the borer is found in an area it means that they have probably already been established in that area for three to four years. They also say that within eight to ten years all ash trees in an affected area, like Sheboygan, will be dead or dying if untreated.
The City of Sheboygan has roughly 5,000 street and park ash trees that the Forestry Department, within the Department of Public Works, is managing. To date, half of the city public ash trees have been treated for the borer and will continued to be treated every three years. The other 2,500 ash tree will be removed over the course of several years. The city is also actively planting trees to replace ash that are removed and other dead trees that have to be removed because of natural causes.
