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  • City Official: Emerald Ash Borer Infestation In Spencer Appears To Be Fairly Extensive

City Official: Emerald Ash Borer Infestation In Spencer Appears To Be Fairly Extensive

May 03, 2023 Steve Schwaller

(Spencer)– The removal of ash trees due to emerald ash borer continues in Spencer, but a city official says the process isn’t moving as quickly as he’d like. Bob Fullhart, Director of the City’s Parks Department, told the city council Monday based on what he’s seeing, the emerald ash borer infestation in Spencer is pretty extensive…

“What was out there with what we removed when I went out there and actually stripped bark off of trees, and what I’m seeing from the amount of woodpecker activity and stuff, it’s pretty much all over town. It will take time to move down throughout the trees and cause more damage. But, you know, really the next three to four years is going to tell us how we’re doing. It’s tough to say that we’re keeping up because we’re really it’s going to be that three to four year timeframe showing where we’re truly at.”

Fullhart says they’ll continue the removal of ash trees through the summer with just one contractor and will re-evaluate that when the contract expires at the end of the season. He says he will likely be coming back to the council at that time with some possible ideas to expedite the removal process.

While most of the ash trees may appear healthy now, they can rapidly deteriorate once infected with emerald ash borer, causing them to even drop limbs in some cases.

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