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Blue ribbons on Stoughton trees for education

MADISON (WKOW) --  City officials are tying blue ribbons to a thousand trees in Stoughton, but that doesn't mean they'll be facing a chainsaw anytime soon.

City foresters are using a blue ribbon to teach homeowners what could happen if the invasive beetle emerald ash borer would reach the city - or Dane County, for that matter.

City officials marked each of the 1140 public ash trees in the Stoughton, as a preventative measure: to teach homeowners what could happen if the ash-tree-killing beetle arrived (all those trees essentially could have to be cut down).

The blue ribbon has homeowners preparing for the worst, and already thinking of what to replant in the ash trees' wake.

In the city known as a Tree City USA for 15 years, that's not a welcome sight.

Mary Carel-Verden, Stoughton resident, says, "It makes me want to run around and cut the blue tags off the trees so they can stay longer."

Randy Nelson, the city's urban forester, says, "Any kind of symbol of any sort on a tree, people think it's immediate to irradication of the tree. That is not the purpose of the blue ribbons."

The city forester wants people to know where the trees are, what signs to look for, and what the impact would be if the emerald ash borer came to Stoughton and wasn't detected early on.

There are 5000 public trees in the city. 1140 of those are ash trees.

City officials have placed brochures throughout the city: at the library, city hall, the chamber of commerce, among others. They're hoping people notice the D-shaped exit holes of the beetle, the yellowing leaves at the top of trees, earlier rather than later to slow the spread and save some ash trees.

Emerald ash borer is now in six counties throughout Wisconsin, the closest being Kenosha.

Officials in Dane County already have a management plan in place to reduce the environmental impact of the beetle.

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