Emerald Ash Borer Beetle Plan Update

The West Fargo Parks Forestry Dept has been busy in the last months implementing our plan to get ahead of the incoming Emerald Ash Borer Beetle. The park district will spend upwards of $8000.00 on equipment and Mectinite, the chemical used in tree injections to protect Green and Black ash trees. Our crew has moved through the North Elmwood Park areas injecting our beloved Ash trees into the playground circle. Some trees have an amazing diameter of 36 inches. Tintes Park has been completed with the 2^nd Ave Boulevard ash trees removed and replaced through a grant obtained from the North Dakota Forest Service. The remaining Ash Trees in Tintes Park have also been injected to repel and defeat EAB pests. Crews are now moving into Armour Park which our Forestry Dept views as a “tree Park” or “Forest area”. Many large Ash trees shade the park and make for an escape to nature as well as provide homes for many bird species and wildlife. By the time you read this update, We will have injected a large amount of Green Ash trees in the Meadowridge neighborhood and Park. In addition, the City of West Fargo has contracted all Meadowridge Boulevard ash trees to be injected through their Forestry Department, making for an even better-coordinated effort to battle Emerald Ash Borer.

On another note, our crews have been working to slowly and carefully remove and replace Ash trees in the Charleswood Lake area, Vets Memorial Arena area, and Arbor Woods Park will follow. Please expect delays for replacement trees as stump grinding ends up being a fall project and tree locations may be replaced the following growing season. All Ash trees that are cut down are hauled out but remain within state lines to avoid the spread of EAB as a good practice. You will start to see changes in our parks mainly north of Interstate 94 as that is where the majority of our Ash trees are.

Any trees that are injected will be protected for two years and then we will need to re-inject trees again on a revolving cycle. It would take 28 years of injecting trees every 2-year cycle to equal the cost of removing the tree. We feel this is the right way to go about saving large trees that would take 50 years or more to grow as large as they are currently.

If you have any questions about EAB, please reach out to your local tree professionals, or if you have any questions about our EAB West Fargo Parks Plan, our Forestry department is ready to help.