Duluth City Council develops plan for Emerald Ash Borer

The council approved a plan to fight the invasive species.

DULUTH, Minn. –

Emerald Ash Borer has been on the city of Duluth’s mind for months and they now will move forward with a plan to fight against the invasive species.

Emerald Ash Borer is an invasive species that can be considered one of the most destructive forest pests ever seen in North America.

Emerald Ash Borer targets ash trees and has been found in the city.Ash trees are second only to maple trees on boulevards in Duluth.

Without adopting a plan to fight it, many in the community feared that the species could also affect other trees and disrupt the water table.

“Emerald ash borer is not something that is merely going to affect our boulevard trees, it is going to affect other areas of our community,” said Jodi Slick of Ecolibrium3.

In other business in their last council meeting of the year, the council approved giving nearly $62,000 to the Duluth traverse trail.

The council also approved Mayor Emily Larson’s proposed budget for 2017.

The council decided to table an issue on a request for HUD federal community block grant funds. They cited the need to find out more information about the organizations who would potentially receive the money.