With the Emerald Ash Borer now confirmed in neighboring Boone County, the City of Perry is doing what they can to prepare for the pests.

City Administrator Butch Niebuhr says the first thing residents need to do is identify if they have Ash trees in their yard.

“They do make good shade trees.  They were planted years ago because they are a quick grow and they do put a good canopy out there but the Emerald Ash Borer is devastating to the ash trees here in Iowa.  It does jump over a little bit, sometimes it doesn’t take them all and there are treatments that you can do to your tree.”

Niebuhr says there are different things that you can do to help ward off the Emerald Ash Borer, such as treating them or just removing them from your property.

Unfortunately, he says sometimes it takes years before you even know there has been an infestation.

“The Emerald Ash Borers they did find in Boone County were two male species, I don’t know if any larva was left in the trees or not.  Once they do infect a tree it make take up to five years to actually get that tree that shows the stress and shows that it’s dying.  A lot of times they try and infect a tree that maybe isn’t the healthiest tree on the block so sometimes the real healthy ash tree will survive.  So if people take care of their trees and they prune them and maybe even fertilize them, those trees may be the ones that live through it all.”

Niebuhr says the City originally planned on cutting down the young ash trees, but now it looks like that may not be the best bet.  They plan on meeting with the tree board to figure out the best plan of action.