The Urban & Community Forestry Program is grateful for the efforts of volunteers, staff, and contractors in four rural Vermont towns who completed grant-funded roadside ash tree removal projects over the past calendar year. The towns of Calais, Grafton, Royalton, and Strafford joined the ranks of many Vermont municipalities addressing the logistics and costs of ash tree removals in public ways and places.

Each municipality was awarded $8,000 in grant funds to remove ash trees (primarily white ash, Fraxinus americana) within the municipal right-of-way of a road outlined in their project application. Matching funds, or contributions from the municipality, were not required, although all towns donated in-kind services of tree wardens, municipal administrative staff, or other volunteers. The Towns of Calais, Royalton, and Strafford hired contractors to remove ash trees in the right-of-way; the Town of Grafton utilized a mixture of contractors and their own public highway department to conduct tree removals, many of which were near utility lines. Grant funds came from remaining money is the federal State Urban Forest Resilience Funds awarded to Vermont in 2022 and 2023.

Trees in the municipal right-of-way are owned by the landowner but are managed by both the town and the landowner; the town can care for or remove trees that impact the safe passage of a road, while the landowner can utilize the wood for their own purposes. Each municipality contacted landowners along the project site road to enquire if the landowner wanted to keep the wood from the tree or have it removed by the town. Contractors could place ash logs in unobstructed places at the edge of the right-of-way where landowners could access the wood for their own use. Branches were usually chipped on-site and blown into the forest. Many landowners kept the downed wood for their own use, although the town of Calais transported some of the ash wood to the Calais Recreation Field, where it will be part of a community firewood program.

The Town of Grafton is thoroughly pleased with working with the VT ANR on the Ash Tree Removal grant. Emerald Ash Borer has become a prominent issue in our community, so we are fortunate to work well and utilize the support through this program. This grant helped us get started on monitoring trees within the Town right-of-way. 

~ Morgan Wilbur, Grafton Town Administrator

Approximately 45 trees identified as significant hazards, described as likely to fall across the road and cause damage or injury, in a concentrated area were marked for removal. Although many ash trees fell into this category, due to the available funding, a selection of trees along both sides of the road were identified with a goal of maximizing the number of trees that could be removed... [The Town of Strafford] appreciate[s] the opportunity to work with the State to improve safety for residents along Turnpike Road. 

~ Stephanie Slayton, Town of Strafford Grants Manager

Emerald ash borer (EAB), an introduced insect from Asia that feeds on and kills ash trees, currently threatens all ash species in this region. In their native range, emerald ash borers coexist with ash tree species native to Asia. North American ash species did not co-evolve with emerald ash borer, and most show little tolerance or resistance to the insect. EAB larvae create galleries in the cambium layer of the tree, ultimately cutting off the flow of water and nutrients within the tree and rendering the wood extremely brittle. Some municipalities have removed ash trees within the right-of-way before the trees become infested and break or fall into the road. Ash trees in all four project sites already showed signs and symptoms of emerald ash borer infestation.

Congratulations to the towns of Calais, Grafton, Royalton and Strafford for their careful project management, willingness to plan and act in the face of emerald ash borer infestations, and their ability to work with contractors to serve the municipalities’ needs.