As you may
know, Denver Parks & Recreation’s Office of the City Forester recently
launched the Be A Smart Ash campaign (http://www.beasmartash.org) to educate and inspire Denver residents
to take action against the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), an insect not native to
Colorado that has the potential to destroy Metro Denver’s 1.45 million ash
trees – or 1 in 6 trees in the City and County of Denver.
As part of the
effort to combat EAB, the Office of the City Forester has developed a
systematic plan to treat qualified trees in the public right-of-way over the
next few years – including trees in your neighborhood. Residents whose right-of-way
ash trees have been selected by the Office of the City Forester for free
treatment by a crew of licensed tree professionals this year will be
notified by mail beginning early next week. You’ll soon see these crews at work
and treated trees will be marked with identification tags.
We hope you’ll
agree that trees are critically important for our overall quality of life.
Among other things, they produce oxygen, reduce smog, cool our neighborhoods
and homes and increase our property values.
How You Can
Help
To join our
effort to save Denver’s ash trees, we hope you will reach out to your
neighborhood residents and encourage them to:
- Learn more about EAB
- Identify their own and their neighbors’ ash trees
- Make a plan of action
Additionally,
in case it’s helpful to you, we’ve drafted suggested copy for you to share via
newsletters, social media, or in whatever way works best for you to help
inspire and engage your residents, as well as the campaign logo. We’ve
also provided some answers to FAQs that we anticipate specifically related to
the free treatment of ash trees to help prepare you for conversations with your
audience. Of course, we welcome you to reach out for support at www.BeASmartAsh.org, forestry@denvergov.org or 720-913-0651.
Sincerely,
Robert Davis
City Forester
FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS:
How did you
choose which ash trees to treat?
Healthy
ash trees that are 12 inches and larger in diameter at 4.5 feet off the ground
were put on a list for potential treatment. From this list, a number of trees
were randomly selected in each neighborhood to be treated in either 2016, 2017
or 2018. Every ash tree scheduled to be treated in 2016 was examined by a city
arboreal inspector to determine if it was a good candidate for treatment.
There is
more than one ash tree on the public right-of-way. Are they all being treated?
To see which
right-of-way ash trees are being treated and those that are candidates for
future treatment, visit BeASmartAsh.org/treatment-schedule
How
effective are treatments?
When
properly administered by a tree professional, treatment is over 90% effective.
