Elk Grove Village plans to beat the beetles

Elk Grove Village on Tuesday night unveiled plans to combat the emerald ash borer beetle by locking in current tree removal costs and buying saplings now to replace sick trees in the future.

Village officials believe an impending beetle infestation will destroy many trees in the next few years, so, in a pre-emptive strike, the village is planning ahead, Mayor Craig Johnson said.

"Our program will set a standard for other communities that take their landscape and physical beauty seriously," Johnson said.

Rates for a tree removal company have been locked in until 2011 and afterward will increase annually based upon the consumer price index.

Also, the village will buy about 500 trees a year from a local nursery over the next five years. The trees will grow in the nursery until they reach about 4 inches in diameter.

The replacement program will cost $830,000 over the next 10 years, which will come from the village's solid waste and beautification fund.

If the infestation is severe and the village doesn't plan ahead, it will be saddled with higher prices for tree removal and the purchase of trees, since the demand will skyrocket as other towns vie for the same services, Johnson said. This way the village can control its costs, he said.

But if the problem is not as bad as predicted, then the village will be able to sell the trees to other towns at a lower cost than they'd pay otherwise, since the prices are locked into today's costs, Johnson said.

The village has 4,850 parkway trees of the ash variety, which is about one third of the parkway trees. This number doesn't include trees on private property.

If the trees are destroyed, it'd lower property values, appear aesthetically displeasing and increase the heat in the area since there'd be less shade.

Village officials said the emerald ash borer has destroyed about 20 million tree in Ohio and Michigan and it was discovered in Illinois last year.