July 08, 2004
July 8, 2004
LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm, U.S. Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), and members of the state’s Emerald Ash Borer Task Force today announced 47 communities in Southeast Michigan will share one-time federal grants totaling $1.2 million to help them offset ash tree removal costs in 2004 due to the destructive Emerald Ash Borer (EAB).
“The Emerald Ash Borer has had devastating impact in Michigan, especially in the southeast region of our state, since it emerged two short years ago,” Granholm said. “We have launched an aggressive cross-agency partnership to contain and control this pest and minimize this impact. Our congressional delegation has been tremendously helpful in marshalling needed federal funds, and Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow are to be commended for securing these additional dollars for tree removal in our most heavily impacted communities.”
The grants, made available by a one-time federal appropriation, will be distributed by the Michigan Department of Agriculture to local units of government based on the number of landscape ash trees 4 inches or larger that have been or will be removed from their individual municipal properties between March 1 and November 30, 2004.
All communities located in the six-county core EAB infested area – Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne – were eligible for the special funding that required submitting tree inventories and applications in June. This information was used to build a fair and equitable fund allocation formula.
“Because of the devastation caused by the Emerald Ash Borer to ash trees in Southeast Michigan, these trees now pose a public safety threat and need to be removed in a timely manner,” said Levin. “These funds, which Senator Stabenow and I worked to include in the federal agriculture spending bill, will assist communities in their efforts to remove the infested trees.”
“Today’s announcement of funding for removal of trees killed by the Emerald Ash Borer is certainly a step in the right direction, and I’m pleased the U.S. Department of Agriculture has made this money available to Michigan,” Stabenow said. She cautioned, however, that additional federal funds are badly needed to fight the pest. “While this begins the task of tree removal, we also need additional funding to prevent the spread of this pest to the rest of Michigan and across the nation.”
“The Emerald Ash Borer has had an awful impact – both aesthetically and financially – on communities in Southeast Michigan. We were pleased to work with the state from the beginning of this challenge to educate our member communities about the infestation and opportunities for funding. We’re particularly pleased that so many communities will benefit from the federal grants, the result of hard work by the Governor and our Washington delegation,” said SEMCOG Executive Director Paul Tait.
The Governor also noted the continued effort to obtain federal disaster assistance through the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency to help fund the removal and disposal of millions of dead and dying ash trees on public property in Southeast Michigan. These dead and dying trees pose a threat to public health and safety because of their dry, brittle and deteriorating condition and their close proximity to homes, businesses, schools, sidewalks, roadways, or utility infrastructure.
Emerald Ash Borer is an exotic insect native to Asia that attacks ash trees and was previously unknown on the North American continent until its discovery in Michigan during the summer of 2002. The borer has already devastated approximately eight million ash trees in the primary impacted six-county core zone in Southeast Michigan. EAB continues to damage or destroy trees in this region as well as infest other areas in various counties and communities due mainly to the pre-quarantine movement of ash materials or firewood. The state has an active, multi-agency Emerald Ash Borer task force working collectively to detect, contain and eradicate EAB and minimize its damage.
For a list of community grant recipients or more information, visit www.michigan.gov/mda and click on “Emerald Ash Borer” in the Spotlight section. Additional EAB information may be obtained by contacting regional Michigan Department of Agriculture, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, or local Michigan State University Extension offices.
