Donations, city funds treat East Village's ash trees
By M. Isaacson
Ash trees are still being treated in East Village for emerald ash borer infestation, thanks to the generosity of donors to the Friends of Ash Trees East Village GoFundMe. Treatment will continue until the ash trees begin to lose their leaves, or until we run out of money.
East Village joins a number of communities in Chicago that started treating their ash trees with private funds. However, not everyone can afford such a project. The East Village Association supports securing funding for all still-viable ash trees in Chicago to be treated routinely.
Chicago has had an inconsistent policy concerning treating ashes. All ash trees in the City were treated in 2013-14, and a subset of that group was treated in 2018-19. Then no treatment occurred until this year, when the city Bureau of Forestry received a grant of $1 million and treated 6,186 ash trees. We were fortunate to be able to have some of the East Village trees treated with this funding, which made our donated funds go further.
EVA President Jenifer Goldsmith and members of the fundraiser project met with aldermen Daaniel La Spata (1st) and Gilbert Villegas (36th) to discuss the need for the city to treat all of the ashes that are viable. Nancy Wade of Save Your Ash also attended the meetings. Ald. Villegas invited John Lough, an arborist with the Bureau of Forestry, who is a specialist in tree diseases.
The economic case supports treatment. Letting mature trees die, removing them and planting new trees is more expensive than the cost of treatment. Replacing existing trees with saplings means that it will be many years until the new trees grow large enough to perform climate mitigation. It is preferable to keep the existing trees in place, doing their important work of reducing the temperature, cleaning the air, and enhancing the environment.
The Bureau of Forestry estimates that there are 29,600 ash trees remaining in Chicago. Not all of these will be treatable. A rough estimate: $2.59 million is needed to complete treatments in 2025. Wade’s calculation is $3M.
Both aldermen understood the importance of retaining existing ash trees. Ald. La Spata is consulting with the Progressive Reform Caucus and Ald. Maria Hadden on allocating money in the 2025 budget. Ald. Villegas has pledged $20,000 of his 2025 menu money toward the treatment of ash trees.
But the ashes in the East Village area are protected from the emerald ash borer for at least two years. Enjoy these beautiful workhorses, toiling for the public good.
