Board OKs plan for trees affected by Emerald Ash Borer

Consultant will ID trees killed by invasive insect

Montgomery Township officials have taken the next step in an escalating battle with the Emerald Ash Borer.

The supervisors voted unanimously Monday, April 24, to OK a risk assessment of ash trees in township parks and open space properties, as it continues to do battle with an invasive insect that is already having an impact.

“You can go into any neighborhood, and if you look at a tree that’s only partially blooming, that’s the kind of tree that’s going to be a problem,” said Supervisor Michael Fox.

“It absolutely is here, there’s no doubt about it,” Fox said.

The Emerald Ash Borer is a green insect first spotted in Pennsylvania in 2007 and first found in Montgomery County in 2013, and during the latter year Montgomery Township officials began talks on how to plan for its arrival. In 2013 the township approved development of a forestry plan to identify ash trees that could be vulnerable to the ash borer, which quickly eats away at the bark of ash trees from the inside, rapidly killing them.

“What you look for is that they won’t be green this year. That’s how fast it is impacting and affecting trees here, and ash trees are a major part of the forest in this area,” said Township Manager Larry Gregan.

In 2014 Montgomery’s management plan was completed for Windlestrae Park and the adjacent Zehr tract, by consultant Curtis Eshelman of Doylestownbased Timberlink Consulting, who was hired subsequently to develop management plans for several other township parks.

Since then, Fox and Gregan said, ash borer cases have been confirmed in the township, and Montgomery’s Public Works staff began removing trees thought to be affected last year. Earlier this month, the township’s Shade tree commission approved an updated consulting agreement with Timberlink to identify high risk trees on township properties, near trails, roads, or power lines, that should be removed quickly.

“What we’re doing is, we want to make sure we’re aware of where the high risk trees are. Anything that’s near a roadway, that is near a property line with a neighbor of ours, we want to make sure we’re aware of those trees, and we get them addressed while they’re still safe to take down,” Gregan said.

Once those trees are identified and marked, according to Gregan and Fox, a contractor will be hired through a competitive bidding process to help Public Works staff remove those trees.

“It probably will be some kind of budget item as we ID them, but we just don’t know what the scope of it is,” Gregan said.

“We know what it could potentially be, but we don’t know the actual scope of what we have out there right now, and I think the residents are probably going to notice a significant impact on trees on their properties,” he said.

The proposal from Timberlink sets a flat rate of $75 per hour for consulting to identify the most high risk trees, and Fox added a condition that the agreement be set at an amount not to exceed $7,500 so the board can evaluate the results.

“I think we should do this, I think Curt Eshelman is perfectly qualified, but I don’t want to just say that he gets carte blanche to charge us without having some stipulations that we review it,” Fox said.

Montgomery’s supervisors unanimously approved the new contract with Timberlink, and Fox said any resident concerned about possible ash borer sightings on their properties should attend the Shade tree Commission’s Arbor Day tree giveaway this coming Saturday, April 29. Shade Tree Commission members will be on hand at the township Community and Recreation Center from 9 a.m. to noon to discuss various types of trees, and trees will be given away to township residents while supplies last.

“We’re not giving out ash trees, but we do have a nice variety of trees,” Fox said.