(ABC 6 News) – If you have lived in Austin for the past decade or so, you may be noticing more and more dead trees in town. This is because of emerald ash borer, an invasive species that has been killing ash trees locally. With several trees dead nearby due to these species, Morem Tree Service Manager Danielle Morem knew Austin needed to be urgent.

“It’s already wiped out the east side of Mower County, so it’s only a matter of time before it makes its way all the way through (Mower County).”

Emerald Ash Borer is a beetle that lands on top of an ash tree, lays its eggs, and then its larvae will work their way from the top of the tree down. If you notice that the top of the trees are dead while there are still some leaves near the bottom of the tree, there is a reason for this.

“The larvae will start tunneling underneath the tree where the tree sends its nutrients,” explains Community Forestry Member for the City of Austin Jenna Kaiser

According to the Minnesota DNR, this insect was first spotted in 2002 in southeast Michigan before spreading to Minnesota as early as 2009.

Ash trees are the second most popular tree in Austin behind Maple trees. This has a big impact on the city’s “urban canopy” or trees that cover urban areas.

“That’s almost 20 percent of our urban canopy, and so that’s a huge amount of trees we’re looking at losing in the city,” Kaiser explains.

So far, total of 500 trees have been nominated to be treated.  According to Morem, the insecticide used to kill emerald ash borer while still preserving the tree and not harming the surrounding environment is expensive. As such, it will take plenty of capital to get this project done.

This is where the Hormel Foundation granted the city of Austin $40,000 to get the trees treated. In addition, the City of Austin is also throwing in $40,000 of their own money for this project. Morem Tree Service was picked to carry out the treatment.

“This allows us to save massive amounts of trees and we are very thankful to the city of Austin for including us in their venture,” Morem stated about getting picked.

It is estimated that several trees in Austin have likely had emerald ash borer inside of them for at least 3-5 years, possibly even longer. Any trees that are too far gone will be chopped down. Any trees that still have enough vegetation left and are still sturdy will be treated. 

It’s not just Austin dealing with this either. Emerald ash borer was recently confirmed in Albert Lea. If you have ash trees that need to be treated or removed, you are asked to contact your local arborist as soon as possible to help limit the spread.

If you want more information on where emerald ash borer has been found in both Minnesota and Iowa, you can find out for Minnesota here and for Iowa here.