Members of the Fayette city council heard a presentation by local arborist Dakota Wells regarding the emerald ash borer during its most recent regular meeting on Tuesday, August 9. Tree board president Warren Gene Gerlt was also present at the meeting.

The emerald ash borer is an invasive insect that destroys ash trees by laying larvae between the bark and trunk. It then cuts through the veins in the tree, leading to a slow death. 

Wells, a certified arborist and lifelong Fayette resident, owns Tree Remedies, a company that specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases and pests in trees. He was invited by the tree board to speak to the council.

Wells called the emerald ash borer the most devastating forest insect there is.

“The reason why the emerald ash borer is so devastating to Missouri is because ash trees make up a ton of the percentage in the midwest,” he said.

Fayette has a significant amount of ash trees. Approximately 9% of trees at the Fayette city park and nearly 7% of trees along city streets are ash trees, according to preliminary estimates made by Wells. Four trees that provide shade to the newly-constructed splash park are ash trees.

“They are massive,” Wells said of the trees over the splash park. “They are fully mature and are very, very old.” So far, they show no signs of the emerald ash borer, he said.

If left untreated, he explained, every ash tree in the city will be dead within 14 years.

Two ash trees on the courthouse lawn are badly thinning now due to the emerald ash borer.

“It does not have any mercy. It will kill every single ash tree,” Wells said. 

However, there is a solution. Trees can be treated with chemicals to destroy the larvae inside. Often, affected trees need to be pruned where the upper canopies have died and thinned, but the trees can still be saved. 

Treating the trees, Wells explained, is a more cost-effective solution than allowing them to die. Dead trees need to be removed, which can be expensive. And limbs can fall from dead trees, which is dangerous and causes liability issues.

Treatments can cost in excess of $300 for a large tree, Wells said, versus approximately $3,000 to remove a tree. Treatments would be made every two years until the insect is no longer a threat.

“Obviously, it’s far less expensive to treat a tree than to remove and replant,” he said.

While his presentation wasn’t a sales pitch, he said he would like the opportunity to work with the city if it takes action on the problem. “I’m here to give you a warning of what’s coming,” he said. “It is here in Fayette, unfortunately. I was hoping we had a couple of more years before it got here and would have more warning to plan for it.”

Wells recently inventoried all the trees at Central Methodist University campus. He said each of the roughly 15 ash trees on campus are critical and need to be treated this year.

Fayette’s tree board will meet with Ann Koenig, from the Missouri Department of Conservation, at 9 a.m. on Monday, August 29, with the hopes of obtaining a trim grant to help with the ash trees.