6.4. SR 03-07-2016
Request for Action
To Item Number
Mayor and City Council 6.4
Agenda Section Meeting Date Prepared by
Presentations, Awards, March 7, 2016Michael Hecker, Parks and Recreation Director
and Recognitions
Item Description Reviewed by
Emerald Ash Borer Management Resolution Cal Portner, City Administrator
Reviewed by
Action Requested
Adopt, by motion, a resolution encouraging the Minnesota Legislature and Governor Mark Dayton to
create a statewide program to manage the Emerald Ash Borer infestation.
Background/Discussion
City staff and Sherburne Soil & Conservation District Resource Conservationist Gina Hugo recommend
the City Council consider a resolution in support of creating a statewide program that supports and
protects community forests with a focus on the management of the EAB infestation.
There is a statewide need for financial and technical support for communities to implement strategies to
minimize the loss of green infrastructure; the average ash tree provides approximately $170 in annual
benefits and Minnesota has nearly 1 billion ash trees.
A proposed bill (17.855 MINNESOTA EMERALD ASH BORER SUPPRESSION PROGRAM) would
direct the commissioner of agriculture to work with state agencies to develop and implement the
Minnesota EAB suppression program and would appropriate $13,000,000 in 2017 and 2018 to assist
communities with preparedness and management through matching grants.
Financial Impact
N/A
Attachments
Resolution
Resolution 16-____
A Resolution of the City of Elk River encouraging Governor Dayton and the
Minnesota Legislature to create a statewide program that supports and
protects community forests with a focus on the management of the Emerald
Ash Borer infestation
WHEREAS,
the preservation of our community forests is at a crucial point because
current public tree deaths far outpace tree replacement in Minnesota cities; and
WHEREAS,
community forests provide crucial environmental, economic, human health
and aesthetic benefits for our citizens; and
WHEREAS,
the average ash tree in the state of Minnesota provides approximately $170 in
benefits annually; and
WHEREAS,
ash trees comprise on average 20% of the trees in the state’s community
forests but many communities have ash tree populations totaling as much as 40%; and
WHEREAS,
an invasive species, the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), threatens to kill every
unprotected ash tree in Minnesota and the loss of these trees will have a profound effect on
everyone living in Minnesota; and
WHEREAS,
EAB cannot be effectively fought city by city just as epidemiologists cannot
effectively fight a human epidemic city by city; and
WHEREAS,
ash trees killed by EAB become brittle very quickly and become a public
hazard threatening overhead cables and power lines, vehicles, buildings, and people, cities
will have limited ability to manage the damage from EAB and the explosive increase in the
number of dead trees; and
WHEREAS,
peer-reviewed studies have confirmed that a coordinated, landscaped-based
strategy is more cost effective than a city-by-city approach; and
WHEREAS,
recent scientific advances have resulted in an integrated pest management
approach that includes detection techniques, pest control measures, and the protection of
high value, healthy trees; and
WHEREAS,
modern methods preserve about four times as much of the tree canopy and
tree value over twenty years as the outdated approach that relied solely on tree removal
instead of pest control, yet it costs half as much and it helps protect untreated private ash
trees that are nearby; and
WHEREAS,
the number of management options goes down and the costs and losses go
up as the pest population increases and a greater number of trees die.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED
by the City Council of the City of Elk
:
River, Minnesota, as follows that the City Council of the City of Elk River urges Governor
Mark Dayton and the Minnesota Legislature to create a statewide program that provides
guidance and matching funds to help local governments preserve and improve their
community forests through the cost-effective and environmentally sound management of
the Emerald Ash Borer infestation and future attacks by invasive species and diseases.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED
that the City Council of the City of Elk River
recommends a funding level of $13 million per year for this statewide program.
th
Passed and adopted this 7 day of March, 2016.
John J. Dietz, Mayor
ATTEST:
Tina Allard, City Clerk