Emerald Ash Borer Continues March Through the Village

The dreaded emerald ash boreris chewing its way through more of northern Plainfield.

The beetle that devours ash trees was first spotted in the Champion Creek subdivision last year and a half dozen trees had to be cut down. Now there will be more, said T.J. Countryman, the 's arborist. Most of the known infestation remains in the area north of 119th Street and east of Route 59, he said.

Countryman said he didn't know how many trees would have to be destroyed or the eventual price tag. The village is applying for grant money to replace them. And those are only the trees on public right of way. Homeowners with infested ash trees will have to remove them at their own cost.

Traps set by the Illinois Department of Agriculture last summer didn't turn up any borers on land, said district landscape architect James Less. No trapping has been done yet this year, he said.

It's the larvae of the emerald ash borer that feeds on the inner bark of ash trees, leaving D-shaped holes as they exit a tree. By the time it's discovered, it's impossible to save the tree, experts say. And once they're in an area, it's almost impossible to stop them from spreading because the adult beetles can fly as far as three miles.

The borer is taking its toll on neighboring communities as well. Naperville has cut down more than 100 trees this year alone, and Bolingbrook is facing the destruction of as many as 25,000 ash trees, Plainfield public works officials say.

The Illinois Department of Agriculture has confirmed more than 165 areas where the ash borer infestations exist, all of which are in northern Illinois and the bulk of which are in the Chicago suburbs.