Evanston Hearts Hucka-Trees

By Andrew Peerless in Miscellaneous on Mar 2, 2005 3:50PM

Earth Day may not fall until April 22, but the tree-hugging people of Evanston are rejoicing this morning about the city's latest environmental policy. Following City Council approval last night, Evanston's 2005-6 budget will now include $858,000 that will be used for preservation and inoculation of more than 3,000 elm trees, threatened by the ravenous Dutch Elm Disease.

Over the past two decades, Evanston has lost thousands of its elm trees to Dutch Elm Disease, essentially a fast-spreading fungus that impairs a tree's ability to distribute water to its own extremities. Through the tree program, which was developed and proposed by a local group called To Rescue Evanston Elms, or TREE (get it?), the city will starting working in May or June to quickly end the suffering of sick trees and inoculate the remaining ones against disease.

Chicagoist thinks trees pretty much rule, but we're glad we don't live in Evanston to help shoulder the cost of this initiative. Because most of the sick or threatened elms line parkways and streets, homeowners in the already-exorbitant area will each be asked to fork over roughly $130 this year for the program, with another $130 expected to be due sometime soon. The city is hoping to collect nearly $400,000 from homeowners, but will foot the entire bill for elm trees located in parks and public areas. In addition, officials are considering a program in which it would split the cost of innoculation with homeowners that wish to preserve elms on their own property.

Elm image courtesy of www.ext.nodak.edu