City and park managers across Iowa have begun removing thousands of healthy ash trees, preempting a strike from a seemingly unstoppable brand of tree-eating beetle, the Des Moines Register reports.
The emerald ash borer, which killed tens of millions of trees in Southeastern Michigan and tens of millions more across the midwest and into parts of Canada before it was first spotted last May in Iowa, works by burrowing under a tree’s bark and cutting off its food supply. It can be live in a tree for years without detection.
In all, some 88 million ash trees grow across Iowa. The loss of about 3.1 million urban ash trees in Iowa could cost cities $7.3 billion for removal, replacement and lost landscape value, the Department of Natural Resources told the Register.
Officials hope that preemptive action will help communities to bear the cost and labor gradually while newly-planted, hardier trees grow at a staggered pace.
For more on the the dastardly beetle, see this list of frequently asked questions compiled by the ISU department of entomology.