Forestry Department Crews will begin ash tree removal operations this week
Reading, MA- August 16, 2021 – Due to damage from emerald ash borer beetles, Department of Public Works Forestry crews will be at the Parker School removing trees over the next few weeks. All seven trees at the entrance to the school property are ash trees and in various stages of disease from the emerald ash borer. Several other diseased trees on the property will also be removed along King Street.
Tree and stump removal operations expect to be complete prior to the beginning of school. New disease-resistant trees will be planted later in the autumn.
Unfortunately, there are several other areas in town where ash trees are being monitored by the town’s Tree Warden, an experienced ISA Arborist, which will have to be taken down in the next few years due to disease.
The emerald ash borer is an invasive pest first detected in Massachusetts in 2012 in the town of Dalton. Since its initial find, the emerald ash borer has been detected in 169 communities in eleven counties: Berkshire, Bristol, Essex, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk, and Worcester. The entire state of Massachusetts is currently part of the national quarantined zone, limiting the movement of all hardwood firewood, and green wood products, nursery stock, and any plant materials from any ash species in an effort to stop the spread of the beetle.
For more information on this pest, visit emeraldashborer.info.
