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A Resolution of the City of Elk River encouraging Governor Dayton and the <br />Minnesota Legislature to create a statewide program that supports and <br />protects community forests with a focus on the managementof the Emerald <br />Ash Borer infestation <br />WHEREAS, the preservation of our community forests is at a crucial point because <br />current public tree deaths far outpace tree replacement in Minnesota cities; and <br />WHEREAS, community forests provide crucial environmental, economic, human health <br />and aesthetic benefits for our citizens; and <br />WHEREAS, the average ash tree in the state of Minnesota provides approximately $170 in <br />benefits annually; and <br />WHEREAS, ash trees comprise on average 20",,o of the trees in the state's con-imunity <br />forests but triany communities have ash tree populations totaling as much as 40%; and <br />WHEREAS, an invasive species, the Emerald Ash Borer. (EAB), threatens to kill every <br />unprotected ash tree 11-1 Nlifinesota and the loss of these trees will have a profound effect on <br />everyone living in Minnesota; and <br />WHEREAS, EAB cannot be effectively fought city by city just as epidemiologists cannot <br />effectively fight a human epidemic city by city; and <br />WHEREAS, ash trees killed by E'AB become brittle very quickly and become a public <br />hazard threatening overhead cables and power lines, vehicles, buildings, and people, cities <br />will have limited ability to manage the damage frorn EA13 and the explosive increase ill the <br />number of dead trees; and <br />WHEREAS, peer-reviewed studies have confiri-ned that a coordinated, landscaped -based <br />strategy is more cost effective than a city -by -city approach; and <br />WHEREAS, recent scientific advances have resulted in. anintegrated pest n-ianagernent <br />approach that includes detection techniques, pest control measures, and the protection of <br />high value, healthy trees; and <br />WHEREAS, Modern methods preserve about four times as much of the tree canopy and <br />tree value over twenty years as the outdated approach that relied solely on tree removal <br />instead of pest control, yet it costs half as much and it helps protect untreated private ash <br />trees that are nearby; and <br />Pp V F R I I ®v <br />NATURE,I <br />