The Evanston City Council might slash funding for the preservation of the city’s 3,000 elm trees due to budget shortfalls.
For almost four years, city elms have been injected with pesticides to prevent the spread of Dutch Elm disease, said Doug Gaynor, director of Parks, Forestry and Recreation for the city. The injection program has enjoyed a 98 percent success rate, he said.
“If injections stop, it will increase the number of elm trees that will contract the disease,” Gaynor said. “We’ll start losing trees again at about the same numbers as we were losing before, which was about 250 to 300 trees, depending on the year.”
As Evanston struggles with city pension debts, council members will have to decide what funding to compromise. The elm tree injection program’s future has been called into question, but some proponents of the program said cutting inoculation will only raise the costs because the city will have to remove infected trees.
Although the council has not formally considered cutting the injection program, the subject has been discussed at budget meetings. Members said City Manager Julia Carroll has proposed the option of discontinuing the program to balance the budget.
Ald. Elizabeth Tisdahl (7th) said she is willing to make cuts to solve the pension fund problem.
“It’s my understanding that if we continue to inject the elm trees with pesticides, we will be able to slow their death rate, but we will not be able to stop it,” Tisdahl said. “It’s a decision of what’s more valuable, and, to me, it’s not worth the pension problems.”
Ald. Lionel Jean-Baptiste (2nd) , who said the issue will probably be discussed at Saturday’s budget meeting, wants to continue the inoculation process.
“The program has been working very, very well,” Jean-Baptiste said. “At this particular point in time, I can’t piecemeal my decision because there are a bunch of choices I have to make, but on a preliminary basis, I don’t agree with discontinuing the program.”
Mimi Peterson, co-founder of the activist group To Rescue Evanston Elms, said her organization brought the issue of Dutch Elm disease to the council’s attention in 2003. The program has been successful in combating the fungal disease spread by elm bark beetles.
“The program has been effective and has been able to save money in terms of tree removal and, moreover, been able to save those trees,” Peterson said. “The trees are something that everyone benefits from.”
Current city policy is to inject mature elm trees that measure 30 inches in diameter along parkways. Along secondary streets, trees must be 10 inches in diameter to be eligible for injection. The city has not been able to afford to inject all 3,000 of its current American elm population, Gaynor said.
It is less expensive to inject a tree than to remove it, but it is hard to make the comparison because of labor costs, he said. Although he would prefer to keep the program, if his department has to make budget cuts, he is prepared to sacrifice elm trees to preserve funds for youth programs.
“Philosophically, if I have to make a choice between a tree and a young person, I think it’s more important to put the money into our youth,” Gaynor said.
Reach Kirstin Maguire at
