Village of Westmont
Date Issued: August 15, 2014
The Village receives many questions from residents regarding our tree removal program. Specifically, many residents are interested in knowing when marked trees will be removed.
“The reality is that the Emerald Ash Borer problem is too large a problem for our internal staff to take care of on its own,” says Village Forester Jon Yeater. “Because of this situation, the Village has approved funding to hire additional resources to address the problem. We are hoping to accelerate our tree removal program over the next 6 months, but we do ask residents to be patient during this process.”
TREE REMOVAL
The Village is currently working on tree removals in Oakwood subdivision and is close to completion. Starting early this fall, the program will focus on tree removal in the Ashford Subdivision and surrounding areas. Upon completion of this area, staff will reassess priorities and continue with the program.
Tree removal contractors are scheduled to be doing removals tentatively in this order and timeline:
AUGUST-SEPTEMBER
* All removals in the Northeast Downtown and Northeast Acres sections of Village
(Approximately Burlington to Ogden, and Cass to Wilmette/Richmond)
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER
* All removals in the Southeast Downtown section of the Village
(Approximately Quincy to 56th St., and Cass to Richmond)
OCTOBER-NOVEMBER
* All removals in Farmingdale Subdivision and surrounding areas
DECEMBER-JANUARY
* All removals in Deer Creek Subdivision, Sycamore Run Subdivision & surrounding areas
The Village Forester will be out this Fall to mark any and all affected trees that have not already been marked throughout the Village. All trees within areas not mentioned above will be scheduled for the coming year.
REPLANTING SCHEDULE
The Village is planting new trees in areas where trees have been removed. The current goal is to have everything that was removed prior to February 2014 be replanted by this Fall. However, some specific species selected for individual sites are Spring plantings only, in which case, those locations will be replanted in the Spring of 2015.
At this time, the Village needs to address about 250 locations that need replanting. It should be noted that not all areas that have trees removed will necessarily have replanting. Issues such as proximity to existing trees and overhead wires may impact new plantings.
A wide variety of species are considered for replanting and selection is based on the logistics of each individual site. Typical replacement trees are 2-2.5" in diameter and approximately 6-12' tall depending on the particular species. For more information, contact Village Forester Jon Yeater at jyeater@westmont.il.gov or 630-981-6285.
###
Contact: Larry McIntyre
Village of Westmont Communications Director
630-417-0280, lmcintyre@westmont.il.gov