Chenoa to be part of ISU study of Emerald Ash Borer

By Erich Murphy/Daily Leader

Dr. John Kostelnick of Illinois State University discusses the Emerald Ash Bore study the school will be conducting. It will involve Chenoa’s infestation of the bug.

A bad thing could become something good for the city of Chenoa. Even though the Emerald Ash Borer has wreaked havoc on the community’s ash trees, a study will be taking place that will involve the wood-boring pests.

Dr. John Kostelnick, assistant professor of Geography at Illinois State University, spoke to the board at its meeting Monday. His discussion focused on the study of the ash bore. He pointed out that this is a prototype study. “What we’re doing is trying to help (the IDA) out with some of the work they want to do in Chenoa and sort of following up on the some of the stuff they had done with the folks at Western Illinois,” Kostelnick said.

“What we are doing a couple of tasks. One of those is doing a detailed tree inventory … trying to get as many as we can on a database. Along with that, doing a visual survey of the ash trees,” Kostelnick added. He also said that the use of aerial photography could be used at a discounted price.

In looking at the trees, the study will involve taking bark stripping, Kostelnick said. Mayor Walt Hetman gave the city’s approval of doing any kind of bark stripping survey on city trees. Kostelnick said work will begin in early May and should take about a month. He also said the bark stripping survey will be ongoing.

A lot of the cost of the project will be taken care of through a grant provided by the state’s Department of Agriculture to ISU. Kostelnick said if there is an interest, a workshop can be provided by ISU to inform the public what is taking place.