By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
A visit to the shoreline of Browns Lake at Fischer Park in Burlington over the last few weeks shows a stunning change, as Racine County’s public works department fights the emerald ash borer.
More than 50 trees have been taken down at the park due to the infestation of the pest, which has caused several area counties – including Kenosha, Racine and Walworth – to be placed under quarantines in an attempt to contain the pest.
Julie Anderson, the Director of Public Works for Racine County, said that 53 trees had been taken down at Fischer Park as of last week. Those trees, she said, had been identified as being at least 50 percent diseased.
The real problem, Anderson said, is getting residents to leave the wood alone. Most residents, she said, understand the reasoning behind the trees coming down.
“They can’t just take the wood,” she said, because of the quarantine. “It’s all got to be chopped and ground up.
“The wood cannot be transferred as there is no guarantee it will remain in this county or in the quarantined area,” Anderson added. “Wood piles on various properties could also cause the further spread of the disease.”
Fischer Park is just the latest target for taking down infested trees. Right before the start of the Racine County Fair in July of 2015, more than 60 trees between Old Settlers Park and the County Fairgrounds in Union Grove were taken down.
Anderson said safety has been the primary concern, as some of the trees the county staff has taken down have been virtually hollow.
“Taking them down is the best course of action, especially if they cannot be otherwise treated,” Anderson said.
Injection treatments are available to treat some of the various ash populations that have a diseased percentage of less than 50 percent. However, Anderson called the treatments “very expensive,” and added that they give an added two years, at most, of life to the trees.
She stressed that the county is taking the time to inspect trees and isn’t taking them down randomly, but that there are thousands of the trees in Racine County due to it being a disease-resistant tree that was inexpensive to plant over the last 50 years.
Because of that, there are many trees yet to come down.
“The emerald ash borer infestation has been devastating not only in Racine County, but all across southeast Wisconsin,” she added.
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