UPDATED: Lisle One of Nearly 60 Communities to Receive Emerald Ash Borer Relief

Updated: Feb. 24, 6:45 p.m.
According to a release from Sen. Dick Durbin (D-20) on Monday, 58 municipalities were awarded portions of the $1 million relief grant. Lisle received $10,000.

What other nearby towns received grants?

• Aurora: $40,000
• Downers Grove: $20,000
• Glen Ellyn: $20,000
• Naperville: $40,000
• Naperville Park District: $29,150

Original story:
Lisle's and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus (MMC) are giving $1 million in federal grant money to municipalities that are battling the emerald ash borer (EAB), an invasive species of insect that has killed "tens of millions" of ash trees in North America, according the arboretum.

The MMC, an organization that represents 274 Chicago-area governments, according to assistant director Eve Pytel, posted a request for proposal on Dec. 1 so that its member municipalities can apply for the grants.

Jason Elians, Lisle's director of public works, said the village will attend a workshop on Dec. 15 and likely apply for grant money thereafter.

Elias said the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed this summer that the EAB was present in Lisle, a city with approximately 1,300 ash trees. Last month the Morton Arboretum detected the disease in a batch of "trap trees" on their grounds.

"Anything we can do in town to mitigate the problem, we'll do," he said.

Despite receiving confirmation that the bug is infesting local trees, Lisle has had an emerald ash borer control program since 2008. The plan lists inspection and inventory processes, actions for tree removal and replacement and contractors to hire for EAB-related work.

According to Lisle's program, all removed trees will be replaced, if there is money. Pytel said replacement is economically beneficial. Shade, she said, keeps buildings cooler, therefore keeping energy bills down. It's also important to replace destroyed trees for beautification purposes.  

Edith Makra, Morton Arboretum community trees advocate, said $850,000 of the grant money is available for replacing ash trees damaged or destroyed by EAB with non-ash trees. The remaining balance will go to technical assistance grants to help establish or improve government tree-protection programs.

The grant money comes from two federal sources.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) fought for specific language in the 2008 Farm Bill to fight EAB. The Morton Arboretum was interested in acquiring funds, according to Mukra. The money became available this year.

About half of the money came from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a project of the Environmental Protection Agency that provides funding for, among other things, fighting invasive species. The MMC applied for a $500,000 grant that was approved in July. 

Pytel said the arboretum and MMC applied for the money independently, then decided to pool their funds.   

"We thought this would be a good fit," Pytel said, explaining the MMC has the capacity to manage the fund while the arboretum is more familiar with the issue.

Pytel admitted $1 million spread among the large group of interested municipalities means the grants won't be very big. Technical grants will be about $20,000 while tree replacement grants will range from $10,000 to $40,000.

But a small amount can go a long way, according to Patel.  

"It may be enough to maintain one position or part of one position to help with these tree issues," she said. "If that's the case, it's going to be a really big benefit to a community."

If the grants didn't seem worthwhile, Pytel said, communities wouldn't be wasting time on workshops and applications.

According to Mukra, 150 municipal representatives are booked for workshops. Typically, she said a community will send one or two representatives. Therefore, she estimated 100 to 120 communities are participating.

Mukra said EAB came from Asia. It was first found in Michigan around 2002 and has since spread to 15 states and Canada. It was found in Illinois in 2006.

The EAB is difficult to manage, Mukra said, because it spends most of its life inside the tree and can spread quickly. EAB can fly up to two miles. If a community transports its brush to another area, EAB could be onboard and exposed to a new population of ash trees. Finally, there are no ash trees that aren't vulnerable to EAB. Unlike other tree-damaging conditions, such as Dutch elm disease, even healthy ash trees are in danger.

"There is no sign of resistance," Mukra said.  

Trees affected by EAB die from the top down, a phenomenon Mukra calls "die-back." She said the stress response for a tree with EAB is to put out small branches she calls "suckers" that "shoot up along the main stem and towards the inside of a tree."

Also, heavy woodpecker damage is a tell-tale sign of EAB. Hungry birds feed on EAB larva.