Here's Wayne White, the man who is saving the ash tree that shades half of our Lakewood home.

The Rockford Register-Star reported Emerald Ash Borers in Boone County, just to the west of Marengo and Harvard.

The paper points out that the little green bugs leave a D-shaped hole when it bores out of the tree.

Infected trees have to be cut down and Paul Deizman from the Illinois Department of Agriculture is assuming that all ash trees in Boone, not just the ones found infected in Belvidere have their devastating presence.

“Plan for the death of your tree,” he advises.

The Boone County strategy, as I read what County Board member
Marshall Newhouse is saying, is to identify the ash trees on public rights-of-way and prepare to cut them down. There are no plans to try to save any ash trees in Boone County.

Such pessimism.

Elsewhere, Cedarburg, Wisconsin, for instance, every tree is being treated. That’s what Wayne White, seen above next to his yard sign with its toll-free number (877-SAVE ASH).   I expect Cedarburg will advertise itself as one of the few towns in the Midwest where people can see ash trees.  Maybe it will change its name to “Ashville.”

The Ag Dept employee talks of possible treatment, but is ever so pessimistic.

“It’s like chemotherapy,” he said. “There’s a risk that the treatment will fail.”

The ash trees in the top photo were treated by Wayne White; the ones below, which are just across the street, were not.

Well, duh.

Sometimes it succeeds.

Certified Master Arborist Wayne White’s experience is that five years of treatment will save a tree.  That’s how long he had treated the ash trees you see at the Detroit area airport entrance road.  The ash trees that are dead are across the street.  They were not treated.

The Illinois ash borer experts says the treatment is costly. You can find pricing in this article.

And, there’s the possibility that the treatment might succeed, as has the treatment by itinerant Certified Arborist Wayne White on the ash tree towering above our home in McHenry County. Here’s his email address:  Save the Ash.