Work begins on 20-year ash tree removal plan

The city of Ames Public Works Department began removing ash trees in public right-of-ways in Ames Northridge Heights neighborhood Wednesday morning, marking the initial step of a 20-year response plan to the emerald ash borer insect that devastates the tree species.

Wednesdays tree removals in the northwest part of the city came after a Dec. 9 City Council decision to amend the response plan it approved in October in order to limit the appeals process for trees in public right-of-ways the areas between curbs and sidewalks so that work could begin this winter.

Tree removals will continue through the winter, with stump removals to follow in the spring. The city has identified 2,355 public ash trees it plans to remove over 20 years but for now is limiting its efforts to trees in right-of-ways and city parks that have the potential to do damage by falling over and hitting people or vehicles after being killed by ash borer infestations.

Were being proactive with it to avoid having a lot of dead trees, and avoid having the expense and the risk that can be on the city for the right-of-way trees if we have a large windstorm or something like that, said Justin Clausen, the Public Works Departments operations manager, who recently took over the job following Corey Mellies promotion to director of fleet services.

Ash borers have been confirmed in Boone and Story City but not Ames, Clausen said. But he added, for all intents and purposes, theyre probably here, too.

In developing its 20-year plan, the city of Ames looked to how infestations have been handled in cities in states east of Iowa, where the ash borer has plagued communities for several years. (The insect was first identified in the U.S. in Michigan in 2002, but likely arrived stateside years before that inside wood shipping materials delivered from Asia.)

The (areas in the U.S.) that didnt do anything, they kind of got caught with it, Clausen said. Its kind of an exponential curve: once the trees start dying, an infestation takes over, it really takes over fast. Were trying to avoid that.

Over the first five years of the Ames response plan, the city plans to focus on trees with defects that make them more likely to cause problems, and trees with a breast-height diameter of less than six inches.

The city will inject treatments into healthier and larger ash trees this year, and every three years after that until they, too, are removed later down the road. The phased removals are intended to buy the city time, balancing costs over a longer period.

According to a City Council action form from October, the plans 20-year estimated cost is about $2.6 million in contract labor, including just under $1.1 million over the first five years. Those costs include tree removals, treatment, stump grinding and replanting.

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Work begins on 20-year ash tree removal plan