Imagine coming home one day and thinking something horrible had happened to your neighborhood. It looked like a war zone. After driving down a few streets, I realized what had happened and couldn’t believe my eyes. The City had cut down the mature Ash trees in the parkways because of the threat of the Emerald Ash Borer infection. I actually sat on my front porch and cried. Trees and nature are a very important part of our lives and as a family we are very concerned about the environment. We have always loved our neighborhood because of all the mature trees and now so many of them were gone.
Soon after this happened, we received a letter in the mail from the City informing us that at our own expense, we too had to cut down the Ash tree in our front yard as soon as possible. I knew there was no way we could cut down our beautiful Ash Tree after how I felt coming home that day. Our Ash tree was the focal point of our entire front yard. I planted flowers around it every spring and it provided shade and cooled my house in the summer. My family played in its falling leaves in the fall and decorated it for the holidays every year.
We immediately hired a wonderful Arborist who came up with an annual treatment plan to save our Ash tree. Our tree became famous and was the subject of many discussions for City Officials on the benefits of the treatment. The happy ending of this story is that the City began treating the Ash trees instead of cutting them all down. We continued to treat our precious Ash tree for many years and it still is growing strong to this day! Remember, saving one tree can make a difference.
