News in the Midwest February 4-5, 2015
OF POTENTIAL INTEREST TO ALL
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/marisa-tomei-parents-file-10-suit-sean-lennon-article-1.2101920
Marisa Tomei’s parents file $10 million suit against Sean Lennon, alleging his tree is damaging their Greenwich Village home
Gary and Addie Tomei said in a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit that the 60-foot-high ailanthus tree in Sean Lennon’s front yard on W. 13th St. is growing into the concrete foundation of their townhouse. 'He refuses to do anything ... I like him personally but he’s stubborn and he has a lawyer who is very belligerent,' Gary Tomei said about his neighbor.
Gary Tomei, father of actress Marisa Tomei, stands Tuesday outside his Greenwich Village apartment near the offending tree.
BY BARBARA ROSS and KERRY BURKE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, Tuesday, February 3, 2015, 2:41 PM
Marisa Tomei’s parents are tired of giving peace a chance with John Lennon’s son, demanding $10 million in damages because his front yard “stink tree” has pushed through the foundation of their Greenwich Village townhouse.
In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Gary and Addie Tomei said the 60-foot-high ailanthus tree in Sean Lennon’s front yard on W. 13th St. is growing into the concrete foundation of their townhouse and into their front stoop, breaking and displacing the railing.
It has “compromised the basement wall and interior ... (causing) irreparable damage to the structural integrity of the building,” according to court papers.
The Tomeis said they have been trying to get Lennon, 39, to address the problem for a year, but court papers said he has just let it be. =)
“He refuses to do anything. He’s owned it for six years and neglected it. I like him personally but he’s stubborn and he has a lawyer who is very belligerent," Gary Tomei said in an interview at his home.
Lennon’s limited liability corporation purchased the townhouse in 2008 for $9.5 million. City records show the corporation is based at the Dakota, where his mother, Yoko Ono, still lives.
INDIANA
http://kokomoperspective.com/kp/news/kokomo-parks-recreation-awarded-k-grant/article_127956bc-ab02-11e4-bfc8-a34748dee9ff.html
Kokomo Parks & Recreation awarded $20K grant
Kokomo Perspective (IN), Monday, February 2, 2015 12:36 pm
Kokomo Parks and Recreation Department has been awarded a $20,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Division of Forestry's Community Urban Forestry Program. The funds are designated for a comprehensive tree inventory of the City’s 33 parks and interpretive signs describing the benefits of urban forestry to be installed throughout the park system.
Kokomo’s portion of the DNR grant represents over 23 percent of the funds that were allocated through the Urban Tree Recovery and Environment Enhancement project for communities throughout Indiana.
Dan Young In StoryMaster Creations in-story
“With this grant we are developing a strategy for how we reforest our public spaces,” said Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight. “The tree inventory will enable us to plan 20 years ahead to establish an urban forest with a diverse selection of native species.”
In recent years the City of Kokomo has focused efforts to replenish its tree stock by installing thousands of trees in its parks and public right-of-ways. In 2014, Kokomo planted over 1,000 trees.
“Throughout our parks and city, the practice had been to replace dying trees with new plantings,” said Parks Superintendent, Randy Morris. “Now the goal is establishing a healthy urban forest that can sustain itself and to educate the public on the value of the urban forest”.
The resulting urban forest inventory of the City’s parks will be used as a basis for managing its urban forest, including identification of tree hazards and species diversity gaps. In addition the tree inventory data can be used by various public and private entities such as public utilities, students and conservationists. The inventory will also be used to update the Kokomo Parks and Recreation 2014-2018 Master Plan.
IOWA
http://thegazette.com/subject/news/saving-cedar-rapids-best-ash-trees-from-a-killer-invasion-20150203
Saving Cedar Rapids’ best ash trees from a killer invasion
City makes plans in advance of emerald ash borer’s arrival
Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette A stump of an ash tree is all that is left after the tree was cut down along Williams Boulevard SW in southwest Cedar Rapids in 2014. Officials have decided to inject an insecticide into the trunks of 1,200 to 1,900 best-quality, city-owned ash trees to protect them when the emerald ash borer is first spotted in the metro area.
Rick Smith The Gazette (IA), FEBRUARY 3, 2015 | 9:15 PM
CEDAR RAPIDS — Not every ash tree among the 10,000 to 15,000 here is going to be lost to the ash-killing emerald ash borer.
City parks and forestry officials here have decided to inject an insecticide into the trunks of 1,200 to 1,900 best-quality, city-owned ash trees to save them when the emerald ash borer is first spotted in the metro area.
The assumption is that the ash killer is already here, because it’s been found in Cedar County next door along with Black Hawk and 17 other counties in Iowa, said Daniel Gibbins, the city’s parks superintendent and former city arborist, and Todd Fagan, the current city arborist.
Gibbins and Fagan said the city’s insecticide injection plan will use the chemical sold commercially as TREE-age, the application of which must be done every two years.
They estimated that the cost will be $100 to $150 a tree per injection, depending on a tree’s diameter. The total cost every two years could range from $120,000 (if the city injects 1,200 trees at a cost of $100 each) to $285,000 (1,900 trees at $150 each).
Fagan said the city is following the recommendations of the latest studies, which have found that a middle approach — combining tree removal and insecticide use — is better than trying to remove every ash tree, and more affordable than trying to inject every tree with insecticide.
“It’s important to realize that not every ash is a good candidate for treatment,” Fagan said. “This allows us to react when the emerald ash borer gets here, to pick out the really, really quality ash that we do have (along city streets) and treat those as needed.”
He said the city of Des Moines is taking a similar approach.
Fagan said the city will target trees to inject with diameters at breast height of between 18 and 28 inches, which he said represents trees in the range of 20 to 25 years of age. Some older trees also will be injected, but many smaller ones may not, because they are far less expensive to remove.
Some blocks in the city have many ash trees. One city focus will be to inject perhaps half of those and replace the others so one block doesn’t lose too many trees, Fagan said.
Dustin Hinrichs, field coordinator for Trees Forever in Marion, applauded the city for moving from talk of complete removal of ash trees to saving trees in the healthiest condition. He said it made sense to concentrate on mid-aged trees because young ashes might require decades of treatment, while older trees already have begun to decline.
“When you’re talking thousands of dollars and thousands of trees, you really need to drill down and make sure you’re doing your due diligence, which I believe the city has done,” he said.
He said the city also is making a good choice by selecting an injectable insecticide and not one that is spread on the ground.
Hinrichs said the impact on cities of the emerald ash borer is similar to what happened when Dutch elm disease hit decades ago. Minneapolis today has beautiful neighborhood streets lined with elms because the city chose to treat the trees back then, he said.
“There is something to be said for putting your foot down and saying we’re going to keep these trees alive just because that’s something we’ve decided as a community that we value,” Hinrichs said.
MICHIGAN
http://www.9and10news.com/story/28016417/dnr-tackling-oak-wilt-problem-in-benzie-and-grand-traverse-counties
DNR Tackling Oak Wilt Problem in Benzie and Grand Traverse Counties
By Katelyn Boomgaard 9 and 10 News (MI), Feb 03, 2015 6:48 PM EST
More than 50 acres of Red Oak trees in Northern Michigan are infected with a rapidly spreading disease.
Tuesday, the DNR Forest Division cut down and burned infected trees to combat the Oak Wilt problem in Benzie County near the Turtle Lake Campground.
"It's an ongoing major problem and the department's trying to do as much as we can to try to eliminate it," says Steven Cameron, Forest Fire supervisor with the Traverse City Unit Management.
Fifty to sixty acres in Benzie and Grand Traverse County have Red Oak trees infected with a fungus called Oak Wilt. "Our Forest Resource Division has forest health planners that'll fly in department patrol planes in the middle of the summer time during leaf out and they'll find infected areas of the forest where there's open canopies of dead trees," says Cameron.
And now the DNR Forest Service is out there cutting down the trees. Once they cut down the trees it's important for them to burn them right on site so that the disease doesn't spread elsewhere. Cameron says, "These trees that receive this infection are spreading from trees that'll spread through the root system to the adjacent trees but it'll also spread from bugs that are eating within the trees."
They just started this large project and will need to finish before the next growing season which is April 1st. Today's focus was on state land bordering a campground. Cameron says, "They're real willing to work with us and glad to see us out here taking care of this to try to keep it from spreading."
Once the dead trees are cleared they plan to keep an eye on the area. Cameron says, "They will monitor all these sites to make sure that we don't have an escape, there's a plow line that was put around each site because it does spread through the root system."
The DNR is encouraging people in the area to contact them if they think they have infected trees, visit the DNR's website for details.
http://www.traverseticker.com/story/local-company-crafting-from-the-ashes
Local Company Crafting From The Ashes
By Nick Beadleston Traverse Ticker (MI), February 3, 2015
While millions of Michigan ash trees are dying or being felled due to a foreign infestation, there's a silver lining beneath the bark here in Traverse City.
Local woodworking company TC Kitchen and Flooring is working with homeowners to reinvest the still-valuable lumber from the dead trees back into their property.
“We take a look at what the project needs and what [the owner’s] needs are and we try to work something out so it’s best for everybody,” says owner Rayan Conklin. Conklin says his company has turned homeowners’ ash trees into everything from tables and benches to shelving and mantels.
The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), responsible for the infestation, began to plague Michigan forests in 2002. Despite efforts to mitigate its movement, the EAB has already spread beyond control and will eventually kill most ash trees in the state and beyond, says David Lemmien of the Department of Natural Resources.
"We’re on the downhill slide of this situation.” says Lemmien.
He says the U.S. infestation originated from untreated wood shipping pallets coming through Detroit from foreign lands. For Conklin, much of the ash-centric woodwork started when he was approached by Mac McClelland and his wife Colleen, who had more than two dozen infected ash trees near their house.
“It’s great wood and it’s a shame to burn it up in a fire,” McClelland. “It’s a great opportunity to take of the trees that are dying and get a great finished project.”
Together the three decided the wood could be used to reside their home.
The McClellands’ story is now a familiar story, and Conklin says word of mouth generates plenty of business. Colleen also started a Facebook page to generate awareness.
Coklin also says his company delivers more than just craftsmanship -- it provides a safety service. He indicates insurance companies often will not pay for damage caused when infected ash trees fall and cause property damage.
“There’s been times, I believe, where if we hadn’t been out there that year the tree would have hit their house… and they would have had hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of damage,” says Conklin. “Now they’re going to cover their house with a great ash hard wood siding, that’s better than anything you can buy in a store.”
Locals might want to capitalize on the remaining ash as it becomes available -- and while it still exists.
“It’s getting very hard to find good quality ash,” says The Village At Grand Traverse Commons Developer Ray Minervini. Ash was used extensively in the trim, railings and other aspects of the original hospital, he says.
Recently however, more than 75 trees have had to be cut down on the 63 acre property. The problem is “gargantuan,” Minervini says, lamenting the loss of the trees, some of which are more than 500 years old.
With the damage done, all that’s left is to pick up the pieces and craft them into woodwork that will endure.
"These are going to be heirlooms that will be in remembrance of this tragedy," says Conklin.
http://www.upnorthlive.com/news/story.aspx?id=1159207#.VNNgjZ3F-So
How healthy are Michigan's forests? New report highlights the good and the bad
Among the highlights in the report are DNR's efforts to control oak wilt, a serious disease that threatens Michigan's extensive red oak resource.