Lifelong Evanston resident Mimi Peterson has watched for years as Evanston trees have died of Dutch Elm Disease. No trees on her property have been infected, but many of her neighbors haven’t been so lucky.
“There have been nine or 10 trees, if not more, in our neighborhood that have gone down,” Peterson said. “One of the saddest things is that the biggest ones are often the ones that come down.”
For the 18th consecutive year, the Evanston Forestry Division will offer elm tree insurance for homeowners. Applications and premiums are due June 1. The policies insure the trees on a yearly basis.
The program includes tree testing and removal for Evanston homeowners with private elm trees.
If a tree is diagnosed with the highly contagious disease, it could die is as little as two weeks. The disease has the potential to kill all the elm trees in a community within 12 years. But according to a city report released by Evanston, the insurance program has enabled the city to effectively “manage” DED for 30 years.
Evanston currently has a parkway elm population of 4,277 trees, according to its most recent tree census of municipal property. In the 2000-01 insurance period, 116 trees were diagnosed with DED in the Evanston area. During the past year, 458 trees, 372 of which were classified as large or extra large, were insured by homeowners.
In addition to their aesthetic worth, the elm trees also increase property values. The estimated 7 million urban elm trees in the U.S. are worth a total of about $17.5 billion, according to the Forestry Chronicle.
Annual insurance costs are based on the size of the tree and range from $40 to $110 per tree. The cost of removal of infected trees can range from several hundred to several thousand dollars.
The city provides free testing of insured elm trees if DED symptoms appear. If less than 5 percent of the tree is infected, owners may choose to have a private tree company cut off only the diseased portions. Liability concerns prevent the city from trimming private trees.
If the tree requires removal, the city will pay to remove the tree at ground level. The owner must remove the stump.
With the rise of DED, the city encourages homeowners to prune deadwood periodically. There also is a new preventative trunk injection technique available that appears to prevent infection.
Peterson said the simplest way to help the trees is to thoroughly water them once a week during droughts or dry periods, Peterson said.
But the city cannot assist in preventative measures for the disease, said Paul D’Angostino, superintendent of the parks/forestry division.
“We do not have enough money in the budget to treat the trees,” he said. “We are concerned with removal of infected trees.”
Nationally, efforts are being made to save elm trees. More experiments are being done to find treatment methods and breed new hybrid elms that can fight off the infection.
Peterson said that she would like to see more preventative measures taken by the city.
“Every year, there is a lower and lower ratio of elm trees,” she said. “It might be worth the investment for the city to treat the trees.”
