Verona arborist outlines urban-forest plan, ash-borer strategy and volunteer events at Arbor Day presentation

Jerry Halesman, the City of Verona’s certified arborist, used an Arbor Day presentation to summarize the city’s urban-forest work, describe its response to emerald ash borer and announce planting and volunteer opportunities.

Halesman told attendees the Parks and Forestry division manages roughly 4,800 public trees across about 34 parks and nearly 200 acres and said the city’s tree canopy is about 16 percent. “We have over 4,800 trees that the city manages,” he said. He said the city plants about 300 trees per year and is working to increase canopy toward a 20–30 percent goal.

The nut graf: the presentation described how a DNR urban-forestry grant and an updated strategic plan are shaping near-term actions — including an inherited- or “heritage” ash program to retain a limited number of high-quality ash trees, continued chemical treatments for selected trees, and phased removals and replacements to reduce long-term treatment costs and improve species diversity.

Halesman explained the emerald ash borer (EAB) remains the primary pest threat to Verona’s ash trees and said the city has treated ash trees “since about 2014, ’15” on a semiannual cycle. He described a heritage-ash program to identify roughly 50 high-quality ash trees to retain with…