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Jun 4, 2009 6:47 pm US/Central
Frantic Fight To Stop The Emerald Ash Borer
(WCCO)
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According to the city's Division of Parks and Recreation, whose crews are charged with the task, at least 66 diseased and suspect ash trees have been removed.
CBS
In just the two weeks since the destructive Emerald Ash Borer was first confirmed in St. Paul, the frantic effort to stop it is continuing, tree by tree.
According to the city's Division of Parks and Recreation, whose crews are charged with the task, at least 66 diseased and suspect ash trees have been removed. Meantime, the Department of Agriculture and city and county foresters continue to hunt for a wider spread in the disease.
In the South St. Anthony Park neighborhood, just off highway 280 and University Avenue, more trees are being sawed down and chipped up. The sanitation is essential if there's any hope of slowing the beetle's spread.
Armed with chainsaws and giant wood chippers, this two-mile square neighborhood is the front line in the battle to stop the Emerald Ash Borer.
In a matter of minutes, this neighborhood's ash trees are reduced to mere piles of mulch.
"Well, they're gonna try to contain it into this small area," said homeowner Char Pellett.
In her front yard a large stump bears the tell tale swirls of the destructive Emerald Ash Borer, specifically the larvae, which smother a healthy tree by tunneling directly underneath the bark.
The outbreak has already claimed 66 trees in St. Paul -- 32 have been removed from boulevards and 34 from private yards.
Four of those ash trees once lined the street in front of Bob Peterson's home.
"The fellow over I think lost 12 out of the back and the side of his house. We just lost 'em in the boulevard so far -- it's scary," Peterson explained.
After a tree is cut up it is shredded in a wood chipper, but since the chips and bark can still harbor live larvae and beetles it has to be destroyed.
That waste is then trucked to the District Energy plant in downtown St. Paul where the wood chips are incinerated. Burning the waste will guarantee the destruction of the larvae and beetles.
Explaining the city's EAB program, Bradley Meyer said, "We remove and try to contain the best we can and then prevent for future infestation. So this removal right now is kinda what we're trying to do to at least limit the spread best we can."
Fear of that spread is being carefully watched. Driving through the neighborhood one can see large purple traps hanging from branches. There are also healthy looking ash trees which are being stripped of their bark in an attempt to induce stress.
Foresters hope these distressed trees will act as magnets -- sacrificial test trees that will attract the egg laying insects.
But with every ash tree that falls to a chainsaw comes another bare spot on the boulevard. Along these neighborhood streets there are a growing number of dirt patches popping up.
"It is sad," said Char Pellett.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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