4F, Amendment to Section 710 of the City Code

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- ~"HILLS MEMORANDUM DATE: June 29, 2009 TO: City Council FROM: Meagan Beekman, City Planner SUBJECT: Planning Case #09-013 Ash Tree Ordinance City of Arden Hills Reauest Consider Ordinance 2009-009 in Planning Case 09-013 to amend Section 710 of the City Code, entitled Trees and Vegetation, to add ash trees to the list of protected shade trees and regulate the removal of diseased ash trees as presented in the June 29, 2009, report to the City Council. Approve Publishing a Summary of Ordinance 2009-009 Back2round The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a beetle native to Asia, was accidentally introduced to North America in the 1990s and was first detected and subsequently indentified in central Michigan in 2002. Unlike past invasive insect tree pest that have only threatened one or possibly several species within a genus, the EAB threatens to infect all species of the North American Fraxinus genus, the ash tree. The order of species preference to the borer appears to be Green, Black, White, and Blue Ash, with any infestation ultimately proving fatal to the tree within a two to three year period as no effective treatment exists at this time. Despite federal and state quarantines on nursery stock, wood shipments, and other measures, the EAB has now spread to at least eleven states and the east-central area of Canada and was detected adjacent to the Mississippi River south of La Cross, Wisconsin in early April of this year. In May of this year the EAB was discovered in several dozen trees in the St. Paul, St. Anthony, and West St. Paul communities. While the EAB does migrate and expand its range by its own movement, the greatest factor and aid to the speed of its migration has been the shipping of contaminated cut and unprocessed timber, firewood, and nursery stock to non-infested areas. In the past Planning Staffhas Metro-inet\ardenhills\Admin\CouncilIAgendas & Packet Information 12009\06-29-09 - Regular Meeting - Ash Tree Ordinance Page 1 of2