Yellow dot on a tree near you? It's sawdust

If youre a Madison tree hugger and you have a tree marked with a yellow, spray-painted dot in your terrace, hug it goodbye.

The city is in the midst of removingthousands of trees in the wake of last Novembers discovery of the emerald ash borer on Madison's north side, making Dane County one of 22 Wisconsin counties where the ash borer infestation has been confirmed.

Forestry plans to remove ash street trees over the next several years (not necessarily this year) that meet the EAB preemptive removal criteria as approved in the citys EAB Plan, says Madison Parks spokeswoman Laura Whitmore in an email. Forestry staff is still surveying the east side in preparation for treatments thatare slated to begin late May dependent upon spring thaw and will continue marking ash street trees that meet the preemptive removal criteria.

So far, Whitmore says, the city has removed about 500 ash trees that have been infested with the pesky beetle, mostly on the north and east sides, although preemptive removals will also happen on the west side as city arborists perform routine tree maintenance.

While some trees will be treated to fight off the ash borers, many of the citys nearly 22,000 ash streettrees are not salvageable.

Whitmore says the city is aiming to replace the trees within 12 months of removal. The type of replacement tree will depend on the location, the soil and other conditions.

Some of the first to go, according tothe removal plan, will be about 3,000 trees located under power lines, since utilities have already pruned them back enough to reduce the canopy, about 2,000 trees in declining health and about 4,300 trees in good condition, but with diameters of under 10 inches, since biannual treatment injections would cause them too much damage.

Go here to read the rest:
Yellow dot on a tree near you? It's sawdust