Evanston releases tree removal list

PIONEER PRESS STAFF April 12, 2013 5:22PM

To learn which neighborhood trees will be removed in coming months, Evanston residents can consult a list released Friday by the city.

The citys Forestry Division has compiled the list of trees to be removed. A majority of the trees on the list are ash trees, which are infested with the Emerald ash borer to varying degrees, and are located on parkways and in parks citywide.

Forestry staff has prioritized the condition of all the trees on the list and will be removing the ones in the worst condition first.

Officials say the list is constantly changing as staff removes trees and marks new ones for removal on a daily basis.

Staff will re-issue an updated list monthly and post it at http://www.cityofevanston.org/forestry so residents can keep track of any additional trees to be removed in their wards.

The Forestry Division also has a backlog of more than 600 stumps citywide; all from trees removed in the second half of last year or earlier this year, officials said in a release.

It will probably take until mid to late summer to remove all of these stumps. The city will contract out some of the stump removals this spring. After the stumps are ground up, a separate Forestry crew follows up, usually a few days later, to remove the grindings and restore the parkway with new soil and grass seed.

As for replanting new trees, the wait between a tree removal and the planting of a new tree is approximately two years. This is directly due to the removal of far more trees than staff can plant on an annual basis. This has been the case since 2011, so the planting list continues to grow each year.

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Evanston releases tree removal list