Cities in Faribault County are looking for solutions to combat the Emerald Ash Borer problem. Recently, the city of Winnebago secured a $50,000 grant from the Minnesota Department of Resources to remove and replace 20 ash trees located in the city.

The Winnebago Economic Development Authority recently announced that the city’s efforts to secure a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Releaf Grant were successful.

At the EDA’s meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 3, Winnebago EDA specialist Jennifer Howard reported that the city has finalized a contract with the DNR to receive the grant.

“We were awarded $50,000 for the DNR Releaf Grant,” Howard explained. “That’s going to help us to remove 20 ash trees that are located on city property. Then we would replant 20 trees in place of those 20 that we removed.”

Winnebago is not the only city in Faribault County which has been seeking solutions to the spread of EAB, an invasive species of beetle that has been plaguing ash trees in Minnesota for the past decade.

Unfortunately, however, other Faribault County cities have been less successful in securing DNR funding.

In February of 2023, the city of Blue Earth also applied for, and was later denied, grant funding from the DNR to do an inventory of ash trees in Blue Earth and create an EAB management plan.

Blue Earth city administrator Mary Kennedy reports the city will continue to apply for relevant grant funding to address EAB in the area.

Wells, too, was unsuccessful in receiving funding from the DNR’s Releaf Grant when it applied for $23,500 in funds to locate, identify and assess trees on city-owned property.

“There was $32 million dollars in requested funds,” Wells city administrator Connor LaPointe explains. “(The DNR) only provided $6.8 million to applicants. There’s a long list of programs out there seeking funding.”

LaPointe says that, like Blue Earth, Wells will continue to apply for funding to address the spread of EAB in the area.

“We’re hoping the state will increase the amount they’re providing for this grant,” LaPointe adds.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Faribault County was recognized as a known EAB-infested county in 2023.

Meanwhile, EAB was detected in surrounding counties much earlier. Martin County was marked as infested in 2017, and Freeborn County and Blue Earth County were classified as infested in 2021. Overall, there are currently 46 counties in the state of Minnesota with known EAB infestations.

As EAB spreads, more and more Minnesota cities are being tasked with funding the expensive process of locating, removing and replacing ash trees on city-owned property.

Winnebago will use its DNR grant funding to facilitate the removal of ash trees on city property, create an EAB management plan and tree planting plan with the assistance of Rainbow Treecare, conduct an ash tree inventory with Bolton & Menk, and replace the ash trees which have been removed.

Blue Earth and Wells, meanwhile, will continue to apply for funding to enact similar measures on their own property.

In the meantime, both cities will be gradually removing some infected ash trees through upcoming street improvement projects.

Projects provide an opportunity for cities to remove and replace ash trees on city-owned property in the project’s right-of-way. Conveniently, construction usually necessitates tree removal and replacement anyway.

At a public hearing on Nov. 13 for a 2024 Street and Utility Improvement Project in Wells, Bolton & Menk engineer Ben Rosol reminded the public that trees will need to be removed as a result of the project, in some cases because they are infected with EAB.

“There are trees which will have to be removed whether it is because of the street width, the need for a service trench or because of the Emerald Ash Borer which is now in our county,” he summarized.

“We do take down our ash trees as we do street projects and replace them with a different kind of tree,” LaPointe confirmed.

Blue Earth, too, has been completing street improvement projects every summer that involve tree removal and, by extension, the removal of some of the city’s ash trees.

As cities and their residents begin the process of tackling the removal of infected trees, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) does offer some suggestions to slow EAB’s spread.

“Don’t import materials to Minnesota that could harbor EAB, such as firewood and all ash material,” the MDA advises. “Don’t move firewood unless it’s MDA certified firewood.”

The MDA also urges Minnesota residents to become knowledgeable about recognizing EAB and remain vigilant to the condition of their ash trees.

“Slowing the spread (of EAB) means a city can spend $1 million a year on ash tree removal for eight years, instead of spending $8 million in one year for all the dead trees,” the MDA observes. “Spreading the costs over many years is easier on any city’s budget, and that city’s taxpayers.”

The organization concludes, “While it’s unlikely there will be a silver bullet, if scientists can find enough weaknesses in EAB, we may be able to save ash tree species in the U.S.”