Community Ashes

By Matthew Mancia, Jr.

From a passer-by?s perspective, the City of Livonia may come across just as its official website suggests, ?a carefully planned community of residential, industrial, commercial and civic development.? Elegantly patterned suburbs, low taxes, and great shopping are all present and well represented. Yet, in a world of hybrids and global warming, how much effort is invested into the cities oldest asset -- the environment?

Upon closer observation, it is evident that the city plants trees and manages its budget with equal precision and care. Livonia has plenty of plant life to ensure a healthy dose of oxygen for its wildlife and inhabitants. Most of the lush greenery can be located in any of the area?s forty-six municipal parks covering roughly 1,800 acres of city property.

Though the parks are not the only place to find trees in Livonia, the local government takes special measures to integrate natural growth where ever it is feasible. City Councilman Brian Meakin explained that getting trees and other plant life to thrive in spaces mostly dominated by concrete structures is a challenging task.

?We conduct research to determine what trees will do well under our specific circumstances,? said Meakin. ?By selecting specific species of trees that have smaller roots, the city is able to place plant life in even its most developed parts.?

Planting trees, however, is only half of the environmental task. The other is maintaining those trees after they?re in the ground. The latter is a major concern for Livonia due to an insect which originated in China called the Emerald Ash Borer. The insect has wreaked havoc on the Southeast region of Michigan and parts of Canada by killing ash trees, its food of choice, at an incredibly fast pace resulting in major problems for every community they infest.

William Craig is one of the local environmentalists in charge of protecting Livonia?s trees from pests like the Emerald Ash Borer. He said the city alone has already lost around twenty thousand ash trees to the insect, with no signs of slowing down.
?Because the insect is alien to our particular environment, we have no effective defense for it,? said Craig.

While Craig?s words may not offer much hope, he is optimistic that further research will unveil what he refereed to as the ?silver bullet? environmentalists are seeking to combat the problem.
The Emerald Ash Borer has done massive damage to trees, but it is the effects on the pocket books of the city and its residents that have locals further frustrated with the uninvited pest. Because the insect completely kills the Ash trees it feasts on, the city must dispose of them before they fall down, causing more damage and/or possible injury.

Craig estimates of the roughly twenty thousand dead trees in the city, four thousand of them are located on residential property. Residents are encouraged to have the trees removed to help slow the progress of the insect, but those procedures are costly, and citizens are expected to pay out of pocket to cover the cost.

Carol Vartanian, 45, a home owner in Livonia had the unfortunate task of removing a dead ash tree from her yard.

?It cost me nearly a thousand dollars to have the thing properly removed,? Vartanian said. ?Not everyone can afford to pay that kind of money.?

The cost of removal disrupts any kind of calculated financial plans by not only the citizens of Livonia, but the city itself. Craig described the money coming out of the cities budget to take care of all the dead ash trees as an ?unforeseen cost,? but believes Livonia is ?ahead of the curve? in the removal process when compared to other cities facing the same dilemma.
Yet, the biggest cost came to the habitat. When asked about what the future of ash trees will look like, Craig gives a realistic outlook on the species.

?Much of the damage has already been done,? stated Craig. ?People should just enjoy them while their here.?

Currently, the city is doing everything in its power to control the problem without the proper ingredient to rid the habitat of the alien insect. Craig confessed that the previous obsession with the ash tree in landscaping projects due to their appealing look has not helped the situation. Craig stated that city is learning from the mistakes of ?putting all of its eggs into one basket,? and has begun diversifying the species of trees it grows. By planting several types of trees, rather than an abundance of ash like in the past, concerned city members hope that the habitat will avoid a similarly concentrated blow in the future.