Area update: Rantoul ash tree removal about half done

RANTOUL The village is about halfway finished on a years-long project that involves the removal of dead and dying ash trees.

The culprit: The emerald ash borer.

The solution: Remove affected trees on public rights-of-way and gradually replace them with a variety of other tree species.

Pete Passarelli, Rantoul's public works assistant director, said this year alone, the village has removed about 100 ash trees, and during the past several years "between 500 and 600 ash trees."

"We think we've probably got at least that many left," he said of the latter figure. "These are just on the right of way. Some homeowners have been removing some, too."

Native to Asia, the emerald ash borer is a beetle no bigger than a penny. Passarelli said the village has been replacing one tree for about every three that have been taken down.

"Trees are expensive," Passarelli said, noting that Rantoul has received some trees from the state and has put money in the budget every year for tree replacement.

"It's a pretty wide variety of trees. We're making sure we're not planting one single species of trees that might have some sort of future pest that might be a problem. Typically, we've been putting them in areas that don't have trees right now."

Passarelli said the village is fortunate that it has the personnel and equipment to handle most of the tree removal work "and don't have to go out and get a contract to do it."

DAVE HINTON

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Area update: Rantoul ash tree removal about half done