E.L. plants new trees to offset loss of ash

The streets of East Lansing were enhanced with 37 new trees last week, which were planted to make up for the city’s ash trees that have been destroyed.

The trees were donated and were necessary because of the major loss of local ash trees, which are being destroyed by the emerald ash borer, a tiny beetle, David Smith, East Lansing’s environmental specialist, wrote in an e-mail.

“We have removed numerous ash trees since emerald ash borer became established in the city,” Smith said. “Last winter alone, we removed over 100 along our city streets. We began a few years ago with about 850 ash trees along our city streets, (and) we have removed about 300 so far.”

Once a tree becomes infested, it cannot be saved, said Debbie Miller, an entomologist at MSU’s Department of Entomology. The larvae of the beetle penetrates the bark and disrupts the tree’s ability to spread water and nutrients.

“Once the ash borer infests an area, the population will build up and the tree will die,” she said.

The donated trees saved the city almost $5,000, Smith said. Donations were made by the Michigan State University Federal Credit Union, the Michigan Arbor Day Alliance and a grant from Consumers Energy. Volunteers planted the trees.

“The cost of the donated trees was about $1,500. If we would have had to hire a landscape company to install them, the average cost is about $90 per tree. Therefore, the total savings to the city is about $4,800,” he said.

The 37 newly planted trees are safe from the emerald ash borer, Smith said.

“The emerald ash borer is only known to affect ash trees,” Smith said. “We did not plant anyash trees for this project and the city discontinued planting ash trees once the emerald ash borer was discovered several years ago.”

The city planted various types of trees including locusts, redbuds and dogwoods. Currently, East Lansing’s urban forest has about 8,500 trees in its population, which are comprised of 124 different species of trees.

More than 50,000 ash trees have died in Michigan because of the emerald ash borer, said Leah Bauer, adjunct associate professor of entomology, who is doing research to solve the emerald ash borer problem.

“Ash trees are important because they are abundant and can live in wet areas,” Bauer said. “There are hundreds of millions of ash trees in Michigan, and the emerald ash borer is spreading throughout the states.”

Bauer is attempting to find a natural enemy or parasite that will naturally destroy the emerald ash borer.

“We have found natural enemies in China,” she said. “It would help manage the insect. The natural enemies will self-reproduce and find the emerald ash borer and destroy them. We can’t get rid of them all; there is no way.”

The city plans to plant more trees at the end of the month, Smith said.

“We received a Consumers Energy tree-planting grant,” Smith said. “Additional funding will come from the city through a replanting project we are doing with the Planning Department along with funds from our urban forestry program.”