Public Information Session: Emerald Ash Borers

Please join the City of Somerville’s Urban Forestry & Landscape Planner, the City Tree Warden, and staff from the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development for a public information session to discuss Somerville’s plan for treatment and/or removal of trees affected by emerald ash borer. Emerald ash borer is an invasive beetle responsible for the destruction of millions of ash trees in the United States, and was recently detected in the City of Somerville, making it the 43rd Massachusetts community to confirm the presence of the pest.

 

In 2016, Somerville developed a monitoring and treatment strategy for the public ash trees that may have been susceptible to emerald ash borer, including:

The City of Somerville has approximately 1,000 public ash trees (100 of which are on State property), which represents roughly 8 percent of the more than 12,000 public trees currently in the city. In May 2016, the City held a tree hearing to discuss the planned removal and replacement of approximately 124 sick, dying, or otherwise particularly vulnerable ash trees, including 60 that are scheduled to be removed in November 2018 as discussed at the hearing.

 

For more information on the Urban Forestry Program in Somerville including emerald ash borer prevention, please visit www.somervillema.gov/urbanforestry. For further information on State data on the pest and efforts to curtail emerald ash borer, please see the Emerald Ash Borer guide on mass.gov.