Almost five years after East Montpelier’s pilot ash tree removal project along highly trafficked roads near the local middle and high school, the core volunteer Resilient Roads committee shares information and reflections about their ongoing work.

The Resilient Roads Committee of East Montpelier began in 2017 as a nine-member volunteer group with an eye for healthy trees and well-managed roadside forests. Its focus shifted in 2018 after foresters confirmed the first known infestation of emerald ash borer (EAB) in Vermont in nearby Orange. EAB “preparedness” became EAB “action” as municipalities and landowners anticipated mortality of all species of native ash trees across the landscape. Ash trees infested with EAB become brittle and subsequently dangerous to fell from the ground. East Montpelier decided to proactively remove ash trees in a systematic and affordable manner while EAB had not yet spread widely through the town.

In 2019, over 20 volunteers helped compile East Montpelier’s first roadside ash inventory, noting basic information about ash tree locations, size, condition, and the party responsible for the tree’s management (either the municipality, utility company, or a private landowner). The rapid inventory counted 2,480 ash trees in the municipal right-of-way, trees that the town would need to manage either before or after EAB infestation.

The first ash tree removal project along Gallison Hill Road, Wheeler Road, and Schoolhouse Road included felling of 160 ash trees within the municipal right-of-way paired with outreach, education, and tree planting on the U-32 Middle and High School campus. Locals learned why ash trees were removed and how other trees were protected to grow into future roadside tree canopy. Any visitors to the school can still view one mature living ash tree in the bordering hedgerow protected through treatment with a systemic insecticide. The hedgerow’s health is maintained by the committee through invasive plant removal and selective tree thinning that release resilient trees from competition. Most landowners along these roads chose to keep and utilize the ash wood felled on their property or gave it to neighbors; the remaining wood and tree tops and branches were chipped on site and transported to Vermont Compost.

Since then, the Town has contracted six other ash tree removal projects on key roads throughout town. Both arborists and loggers have bid on, and been awarded, contracts by the Town. While arborists fell trees from the ground or remove them in pieces during climbing or from bucket trucks, loggers can also use feller bunchers to cut, sort, and pile ash tree logs quickly and safely. In some projects, the East Montpelier road crew has used town-owned, excavator-mounted grapple and dump trucks to bring wood out of the right-of-way and to a landowners yard, or to a marshaling area in town. When time allows, the road crew has also completed roadside ash tree removals separate from these contracts.

Each project has relied on place-specific decisions made on the ground by the contracted arborist or logger, the Town’s tree warden Paul Cate, the East Montpelier road foreman Guthrie Perry, and Resilient Roads Committee members including Jeff Cueto. Funding (including grant application and management), communication with landowners, planning for placement of excess logs and chips, and outreach and education in the community all happen via this team of staff and volunteers. Run at the local level, roadside ash tree management and right-of-way forestry happens through coordinated communication and long-term vision.

Lessons learned:

• Do the work as early as possible after mud season (and before EAB flight season) because the work becomes almost “invisible” as surrounding trees and plants leaf out.
• Fell ash trees selectively. If the ash tree size or placement seems low risk, you may decide to leave it to control project costs.
• Use the opportunity to identify and remove other hazard trees.
• Be strategic in selecting which roads will be done in specific projects.
• Take time to talk with neighbors. Explain goals and get feedback, and make sure landowners understand that they can keep the ash wood from their property or donate it to a neighbor (Keep it local!).
• Logging equipment like feller bunchers can fell ash trees quickly, but East Montpelier has only used them on unpaved roads (unless mounted on a trailer). Further, equipment to move logs, chip tree tops and branches, and move chips still need to be part of the project.
• Emphasize to the contractor the importance of minimizing collateral damage to other trees.
• All project teammates need to put in dedicated time to make these projects work. Good relationships go a long way!

See the Town of East Montpelier Ash Tree Removal Summary that breaks down the prices and scopes of work for each roadside ash removal project in East Montpelier.

Read the original East Montpelier EAB Municipal Management Case Study published in 2021.