University News
Emerald Ash Borer Treatment Continues on WIU-Macomb Campus
June 18, 2018
MACOMB, IL -- Since its discovery in Michigan in 2002, the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) has killed hundreds of millions of ash trees in North America. The EAB was confirmed in Macomb during Spring 2018, so to mitigate potential damage to the trees on Western Illinois University's campus, Western's landscape maintenance personnel will continue treatments of Ash trees this summer.
With the Summer 2018 treatment, 73 Ash trees on the WIU-Macomb campus will be safeguarded against the pest, according to Tara Heath, supervisor of landscape maintenance. Eleven Ash trees will be removed this summer due to deterioration. Treatments will continue on a rotating basis to ensure the health of the campus' Ash trees, Heath added.
Preventative treatments have taken place on campus periodically since Summer 2013. Last summer, landscape maintenance continued EAB treatments on campus thanks to donations raised through the WIU Foundation's special GoFundMe 'Save WIU's Ash Trees' campaign. WIU alumni and certified arborists Aaron Schulz and Charles Goodrich volunteered their services to make the treatments to 38 Ash trees. Western's landscape maintenance department, within facilities management, maintains more than nearly 2,700 trees on the Macomb campus.
In addition to the work on campus, the WIU Forestry Club has offered treatments to protect local ash treats from the EAB. The treatments must be done proactively to prevent EAB from killing the trees.
Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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