The Emerald Ash Borer beetle is a small green invasive wood boring beetle that attacks and kills the ash trees by the tunneling activity of the larvae under the tree’s bark. This activity disrupts the vascular flow while the adult beetle feeds off the leaves.
The city of Hiawatha will first be watchful for confirmed sightings of the EAB in our area. The city will begin to evaluate the ash trees that are in city right-of-way and public parks to determine how many ash trees could be affected. We have already begun the inventory and evaluation criteria of the ash trees within our city parks and along the street right-of-way with 100 more streets of right-of-way’s to go. We will continue to evaluate this coming spring. The City’s treatments options of an affected tree(s) or removal of a tree(s) will be based on the age, location, and level of health.
Residents will be informed as to what they can do to start taking action to protect their ash trees by providing different education opportunities throughout the year. As we move forward, we will determine when and who will provide this type of training for our residents so they can evaluate their trees outside of the right-of-way and upon private property. Residents should keep in mind ash trees on private property is the sole responsibility of the property owner.
The signs of an affected ash tree are thinning or dying branches, water sprouts halfway up the trunk of the tree, feeding notches on the edge of leaflets, woodpecker-feeding sites, many bark flakes on the lawn, S-shaped feeding galleries under the dead bark, and D-shaped exit holes.
To stop the spread of the EAB there are two options for both the city and the resident. One- have affected trees treated with insecticide applied by a commercial pesticide applicator. This option only suits trees that are healthy, vigorously growing and valuable to your landscape.
The other option is to arrange for the affected trees to be removed. You may contact commercial tree removal services to get an estimate on setting up ash trees removal on their property.
For more information visit the links below:
DNR-Emerald Ash Borer
Iowa State University Extension Outreach- Emerald Ash Borer
USDA Forest Service- The Emerald Ash Borer