Bay County Building
515 Center Avenue
Bay City, Michigan 48708-5941

Bay County Keeping Ash Trees Healthy While Protecting Public Land Values

Having healthy trees is a vital part of our community as trees add beauty to our daily lives, provide cooling shade, and help to purify the air we breathe. A 14.5 inch diameter ash tree in front of a single family residence will provide overall energy, economic and ecological benefits of $141.00 annually to the home. If this same tree is well taken care of and grows up to 19.5 inches in diameter, it will provide $192.00 in annual benefits. Additional benefits of this one (1) 14.5 inch ash tree include intercepting 1,394 gallons of storm water runoff per year, raises the property value by $48 per year, reduces atmospheric carbon by 797 pounds, and conserves 223 Kilowatt hours of electricity for cooling and reduces consumption of oil or natural gas by 26 thermal units. These are big benefits that grow each year as the tree matures.

Ash trees make up a large portion of the public trees that line our streets and fill our local parks. The Bay County Gypsy Moth Suppression Program realizes the value of trees and works to protect these trees from invasive pests such as the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). The EAB lays eggs on the bark of trees and the hatchlings bore into the tree bark. Once inside the bark layer of an Ash tree, the EAB chews through the tree’s water and nutrient-conducting tissues essentially starving the tree. As the tree begins to die the leafy canopy of the infested Ash tree will begin to look thin. That’s why we will be conducting treatments to protect publicly owned Ash trees from the invasive Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) between June 15 and June 30, 2020.

The Ash trees are treated through the direct injection of an insecticide called Tree-age that contains the active ingredient Emamectin Benzoate which will kill 99% of EAB that feed on it. Since the product is injected directly into the tree through a one way port, there is no danger of the product leaking out of the tree and affecting non-target organisms. EAB treatment timing is dependent on the leaf development of the ash trees that will be treated. The ash trees need to be actively transpiring or moving water through the tree to take up the insecticide. Treatment of each tree is estimated to take from 15 minutes up to two hours. The 2020 EAB Treatment Project will treat approximately 971 ash trees and will take up to two weeks to complete. These treatments will protect the trees from EAB for three (3) years. The application firm conducting the injection treatment for Bay County will be Kinnucan Tree Experts & Landscape Company.

The treatment areas that are included in the 2020 treatment project are located along streets and in parks in the cities of Auburn, Bay City, and Essexville and in parks in Hampton, Merritt, Portsmouth and Williams Townships. Maps showing the areas and trees to be treated can be viewed on our website at https://www.baycounty-mi.gov/GypsyMoth/EmeraldAshBorer.aspx

For more information about the EAB Treatment Program or about how to keep your trees healthy, please contact Alicia Wallace, Bay County Gypsy Moth Suppression Program Coordinator, at 989-895-4195 or wallacea@baycounty.net.

###

Attachments