An insect that has been attacking a certain kind of tree has kept Jefferson Public Works busy the last couple of years and into this year.

The Emerald Ash Borer was officially detected in Greene County in 2017 and the bug infects ash trees, which have recently shown more signs of dying trees. Jefferson Public Works Director Dave Morlan tells Raccoon Valley Radio they are seeing more of the aftermath of dying ash trees.

“It’s here. I think this year when the leaves come out there’s going to be a lot of trees that the tops of them are dying off pretty quickly. You’ll see a lot of foliage trying to come through in the bottom halves of them now, but it’s here. Last fall when the leaves started falling there were some trees that had the leaves that just didn’t fall off, they turned brown and stayed on them. Kind of curious to see if those will even come back this year.”

Morlan points out city crews have been periodically taking down infected ash trees in the city parks and the golf course.

“There’s probably 40 or so trees in Russell Park alone, Kelso Park there was probably 15-20 (trees), and the golf course I don’t have an exact number, but I think there’s 75-80 trees down there that we’ve taken down. Then of course we have all the trees in the right of way where the trees are dying that we have to take care of and that’s kind of where we’re working at right now.”    

Morlan notes they will continue to take down ash trees and will focus on the ones that have been marked with a white “x” in the right of ways throughout the town. He adds Trees Forever and the Jefferson Tree Committee have been replacing trees every year, and in areas where a number of them have been removed because of the Emerald Ash Borer, including along Chestnut Street with Russell Park and the golf course.