No panic in Cedar Rapids with ash pest; city's proactive ash-tree replacement effort marches on

CEDAR RAPIDS - The insect pest with a resume every bit as frightening as the Dutch Elm disease of 40 years ago is no reason for panic yet. Even here, in a city where 10,000 of the trees - an estimated 28 percent of the total - in the right of way along city streets are ashes.

That was the message on Friday from Craig Hanson, the city's public works maintenance manager, after he learned that the first ash-tree-killing emerald ash borers now have been found in the state of Iowa.

The find has been made in Allamakee County along the Mississippi River in far northeast Iowa, state officials announced on Friday. A year ago, the pest, which first decimated ash trees in Michigan and now has spread to some 13 other states, turned up in southwestern Wisconsin across the Mississippi River from Allamakee County, Iowa.

“People don't need to be instantly reactive,” Hanson said, noting it could be five or more years before the bug gets to ash trees in Cedar Rapids and the region around it.

Even so, Hanson reported that the city is completing a first year of its own “proactive” ash-tree replacement program, which has seen the city remove some 400 damaged, declining ash trees along streets, replacing the ashes with other tree species.

Another 400 older, damaged ash trees along streets are expected to come down in the fiscal year beginning July 1, Hanson added.

Hanson said the ash borer attacks weak, damaged ash trees first, and removing those now, hopefully, will help to protect healthy ash trees in the future, he said.

Chemical treatments can be effective on individual trees, he said, but such an approach, he added, is too costly on a large number of trees. Such an approach, though, might one day make sense should the city replace a sufficient number of its street ash trees before the ash borer arrives here, Hanson said.

Hanson noted that the city will have a new city arborist joining its staff at the end of May. He comes from a job in suburban Illinois, where the emerald ash borer already has surfaced.

The city's effort to replace ash trees attracted some objection earlier this year from Trees Forever, which said the city was taking down both unhealthy and healthy ash trees.

Shannon Ramsay, president/CEO of Marion-based Trees Forever, on Friday said she is now satisfied that the city of Cedar Rapids' is making sure it is only removing ash trees that are unhealthy or damaged.

At the same time, Ramsay still wants the city of Cedar Rapids and cities elsewhere in Iowa to create “stakeholder” advisory groups to help cities plan their approach to the emerald ash borer.

“They need the help of concerned citizens and organizations to the make the right decision and to stand behind the decision once it's made,” Ramsay said.

As for individual property owners with ash trees, she advised them to consult with a trusted, certified arborist before taking action to treat a tree. It will take some years before the borer gets to the Cedar Rapids area, she said.

Daniel Gibbins, the city's parks superintendent, said Friday that there are thousands of ash trees in the city's parks, but he estimated that the ashes comprise less than 10 percent of the total tree population in the parks. The percentage of ash is higher along city streets because ashes are rugged trees and were planted for the tough task of surviving along city streets. Gibbins said the park system isn't removing ashes because those that die and fall in a park or forest aren't apt to fall on anyone like those along streets.