Study: City at risk for many types of tree plague
If you go
The Janesville City Council will hear a report on the state of the city's trees when it meets at 7 p.m. today at the Municipal Building, Fourth Floor Council Chambers, 18 N. Jackson St. No immediate action is anticipated.
Janesville trees by the numbers
According to estimates by the Janesville Shade Tree Advisory Committee:
Number of street-side ash trees: 3,121
Number of ashes on all properties citywide: 30,000
Number of trees of all species planted along Janesville streets: 24,835
Number of unplanted street sites available for trees: 44,048
Number of trees needed to bring Janesville up to the national average of 60 percent of available sites planted: 16,506
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A new study warns that that all of Janesville's ash trees, such as these near Mercy Hospital on Mineral Point Avenue, could be killed by disease and invasive species.
JANESVILLE — A tree graces the City of Parks' logo, but Janesville faces potential devastation of its "urban forest," according to a report that will be presented to the city council tonight.
If worst fears come true, city residents would lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in yearly energy savings from the cooling and wind-blocking properties of its trees, according to the report by the Janesville Shade Tree Advisory Committee.
The most obvious threat is from the emerald ash borer, which could kill the estimated 3,100 ash trees planted along city streets.
To remove and replace all of those dead ashes would cost $2.2 million, the study estimates.
The study's estimates have a potential statistical variation of plus or minus 10 percent.
The study looked only at trees planted along streets, so the total number of ashes lost in the city could be 10 times greater, the study says.
Losing the ashes could pale in comparison to the effects of some future maple-killing insect or disease, the study says.
Maples make up 52 percent of the city's 24,000-plus street trees, compared with just 12.5 percent for the ashes.
The study recommends a temporary moratorium on planting maples to diversify the city's tree stock.
The study also suggests that Janesville is seriously under-treed and needs to plant 16,506 trees in order to come up to the national average of trees planted on 60 percent of available street-side sites.
At $400 to buy and plant a standard, "balled and burlaped" tree of the size considered to have a good chance of surviving, that comes to $6.6 million, according to a Janesville Gazette calculation based on numbers cited in the study.
The study recommends a planting program as part of city capital improvement and project plan, "and make it available for possible funding, if and when funding becomes available."
The ash borer has killed tens of millions of ash trees since it was first detected in Michigan in 2002. It later infested parts of northern Illinois and was found in spots around Wisconsin starting last year.
The study seems to take for granted that the ash killer will arrive in Janesville and says the city's ashes are "at extreme risk of total destruction."
The study estimates the street trees alone save Janesville residents $1.4 million in energy costs each year. Residents would see an additional $924,000 in savings if the number of street trees were increased to the recommended level, the study states.
The streets with the fewest trees are in newer parts of the city on the northeast side. "This is a direct result of developers not having clear direction from the city about the planting of trees in new building areas," the report asserts.
The report's authors say the maple tree situation is the "most disturbing" finding.
Skeptics may wonder if the threat to maple trees is real, but it's happened before.
Dutch elm disease denuded Janesville streets in the 1970s. The elms had been planted side by side, lining both sides of many streets, creating a bower effect.
One result was that Janesville's longtime nickname, "Bower City," was dropped.
Nov 2, 2009 at 10:37 a.m.
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And the next BIG invasive pestilence will be the Long Horned Asian Beetle. It's favorite things to eat are Maple trees.
Oct 31, 2009 at 6:55 p.m.
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huge
Oct 31, 2009 at 6:54 p.m.
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Does anyone know why the city is clearing out huse areas in the green belts, including cutting down trees?
Oct 14, 2009 at 2:49 p.m.
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hornet- you can save the tree for a small cost by using the tree and shrub by BAYER. the granular formula you just measure tree truck/sprinkle/ water in. only a once a year treatment.
Oct 14, 2009 at 2:46 p.m.
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sannio- the council keeps spending money we dont have on things and this sounds like just one more to me.
Oct 12, 2009 at 11:42 p.m.
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JoeSchmoe, treatment is expensive enough that it is not feasible to expect to treat all trees in the city. Even treatment does not guarantee survival of the entire urban forest, and we're pretty sure the EAB is here to stay, so it will be a never-ending battle. That's why there aren't any more ash being sold.
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The JSTAC is basically presenting the problem. They are telling us what the costs are. I don't think there's any reason to throw out a glib response.
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Long-term, the key finding that we are so dependent on maples is disappointing. On our property we have two maples, one ash, two linden, one hackberry, and one birch along with several arbor vitae. I'd hope the city streets would be more diverse. It's not an immediate problem but people should probably stop planting maples.
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I do wish we had a disease-resistant elm. We can hope that our experience with elms and now these new oak and ash diseases as well as chestnut blight will eventually allow us to create hybrids that we can use again. But that process could take decades.
Oct 12, 2009 at 11:21 p.m.
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Why don't you just treat the ash trees to prevent damage from the emerald ash borer? It is not expensive and will save you the agony of cutting down a beautiful tree.
I tried to buy some ash trees but no stores are selling them as of 2 years ago... They have such beautiful fall color! I hope that homeowners will realize the value of these trees and do their part to try to protect them.
Oct 12, 2009 at 11:07 p.m.
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In the past 8 years, we've planted 26 trees on our property, all but 6 were bareroot. All are growing great!
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We planted these trees for 3 main reasons:
1) to cool the house in the summer,
2) to enhance the landscape, and
3) to feed wildlife.
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We're sad that two of the trees on the terrace are ash, but are willing to cut them down if we ever need to do so - even after babying them for these few years.
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Bare root trees grow almost as fast as B&B if they're taken care of by homeowners--but are much, much cheaper. There is a question of charging extra for water usage for new trees. If we need to plant all these trees in town, is anyone considering a waiver for homeowners if new trees are planted and maintained when it comes to higher water bills?
Oct 12, 2009 at 6:09 p.m.
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I don't see anything in the article that says the city is cutting and planting trees hannah.
Why not setup some space by the community gardens, and have the guys at the jail tend the future generation of trees? I think it could be considered community service.
Oct 12, 2009 at 6:03 p.m.
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hannah, Why don't you slow down ?
Oct 12, 2009 at 5:10 p.m.
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City council to consider borrowing $16 million
Posted on October 12 at 10:48 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
this just in- 2.2 million for new trees. As I mentioned before DAILY we hear more money for this and more for that.How about let them die if theyre on the terrace so we can see traffic coming since you wont trim them if theyre in the way of a stop sign. some of them have such HUGE trunks you have to be in the road to see any traffic coming. It sounds like theyre going to get rid of a bunch of maples even though disease hasnt been detected yet.why dont you just treat instead of cutting down if theyre not in the way?
phyliss from k&w has mentioned it isnt even here yet. I didnt know a baby tree cost $709!!!!!
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