PORTAGE PARK — Martin Molina was fast asleep in his Portage Park home when the sound of a buzzing saw woke him up.
By the time the city crew was finished Tuesday morning, six ash trees in the 5100 block of West Cullom Avenue had met the business end of a chain saw, all victims of the Emerald Ash Borer, a pest that has devastated hundreds of trees throughout Chicago, officials said.
"I woke up to a buzzing saw and then to a bunch of missing trees," Molina said. "I am sad. The block looks empty."
Despite the city's best efforts to save ash trees from the Emerald Ash Borer by injecting them with an insecticide, 113 trees in the 45th Ward have been cut down since Jan. 1, said Owen Brugh, chief of staff to Ald. John Arena (45th).
Heather Cherone discusses the effort to stop the insect's spread:
The Emerald Ash Borer, which is smaller than a penny, has doomed hundreds of trees across the city by eating them from the inside out, leaving them brittle and unsteady.
The city, which added about $2.7 million to the forestry department's budget in each of the last two years to fight the insect and plant more trees, is committed to saving as many trees as possible, said Molly Poppe, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Streets and Sanitation.
"We are taking a lot of steps to ensure the city has a lush canopy of trees," Poppe said.
In addition, residents in the 45th Ward voted to spend $240,750 to plant 450 trees in Arena's 2014 participatory budgeting process to fill in some of the bare spots by the Emerald Ash Borer. Each tree will cost $514, officials said.
But despite the city's best efforts, the Emerald Ash Borer has eaten whole swaths of trees in Wicker Park, Hyde Park and neighborhoods throughout the city.
In the 45th Ward, which includes Jefferson Park, Old Irving Park and parts of Portage Park, Gladstone Park and Forest Glen, 400 trees fell victim to the Emerald Ash Borer in 2014.
There are approximately 580,000 trees along the city's streets and sidewalks, and nearly 85,000 of them are ash trees at risk of being infested with the Emerald Ash Borer, officials said.
Trees that have been infested by the ash borer have thin, yellow leaves, elephant skin-like bark and dead branches at their crown, officials said.
Molina's block, along with the 5000 block West Cullom Avenue, the 5000 block of West Dakin Avenue and the 5200 West Winona Avenue will be at the top of the list to get new trees once the weather warms up, Brugh said.
Residents who live on a block where a tree has been chopped down should call the alderman's office at 773-286-4545 or fill out a online form to request that a new tree be planted on their block, Brugh said.
In 2015, Mayor Rahm Emanuel plans to plant 7,800 trees on parkways, 25 percent more than the number of trees planted in 2013, Poppe said. In 2014, 6,600 trees were planted, she added.
But every year, city crews chop down about 10,000 trees for a variety of reasons, including the Emerald Ash Borer. Most of the trees are removed between November and May, Poppe said.
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