BLOOMINGTON - The invasion of the emerald ash borer will force the City Council to plan for the removal and replacement of about 3,400 trees. | ARCHIVE: Insects' arrival could result in quarantine | Blog: Ash borer treatment tips

At a work session Monday, the council learned there are few options for treating and saving ash trees once ash borer arrives.

Bloomington Parks and Recreation Director Dean Kohn said the city is "looking at a total loss for our ash tree population."

More than 2,300 ash trees are planted along the city streets and another 1,064 are in the city's parks and golf courses.

"Just in Forrest and Miller parks we have 300 ash trees," Kohn said. "It will be quite a project to take them down."

How much it will cost the city has not been figured and will depend on how the City Council decides to approach the problem, said City Manager Tom Hamilton.

"But clearly the city is looking at a significant budget impact because it will not only have to remove the trees but make sure the disposal is handled properly and then replant," Hamilton said.

Treating the trees is a possibility, said Paul Deizman, the emerald ash borer program manager for the Illinois Department of Agriculture. However, he said the two primary treatments - insecticides either injected into the trees or poured at the base of the tree - are still new and the long-term results are unproven.

"As an agency we are asking you to consider destroying your ash trees," Deizman said. "At this time we have no way to eradicate this bug."

Two ash borers were found in a trap southwest of Bloomington and that prompted the department to conduct a survey of the area. Deizman said it appears Chenoa is a location where the ash borer is heavily invested.

Most trees will stay green for four to five years before the borer kills them and the borers could have been in Chenoa for six to eight years, he added.

The borers could have migrated naturally to Bloomington-Normal in that period of time or it could have hitchhiked on a load of wood.

Deizman said the area will be placed under a quarantine which will prohibit people from taking the wood of local ash trees out of the area.