River Forest staff members were able to treat 287 of the village’s 306 parkway ash trees against the invasive emerald ash borer over the summer, using a $7,650 grant from the Morton Arboretum Chicago Region Trees Initiative to cover the majority of the cost.
Seth Jansen, management analyst, said village staff members did not treat those trees in poor condition as part of the grant agreement, but were able to treat every ash tree deemed to be in excellent, good or fair condition by village arborists. Most were treated in June and July with the last of them being completed in August, he added. The emerald ash borer is a beetle that is responsible for killing millions of these trees nationwide each year.
River Forest is one of 14 communities that received Urban and Community Forestry Grant awards in 2024 to improve forest health resulting from emerald ash borer damage or for emerald ash borer prevention.
Jansen explained that River Forest had initially became aware of the grant in the early 2023, when the Morton Arboretum put out a survey to gauge the interest of communities in a potential urban forestry grant through the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service. Village officials later submitted a letter of support to the arboretum for its grant application to the USDA in May 2023, which led to a grant through the Urban and Community Forestry grant program within the Inflation Reduction Act.
In November 2023, River Forest applied to be a subgrant recipient with the intention of utilizing the grant funds to help fund the treatment of parkway ash trees for EAB. The grant, which was awarded in March, covers 50 percent of the cost of the EAB treatments performed this year, he said.
“We were able to use our staff man hours performing the ash tree injections as part of our match requirement, so the grant is able to cover a good portion of the cost of the insecticide and injectors,” Jansen added. “As another stipulation of the grant, we updated the Trees and Shrubs ordinance in the village code to meet the best practices recommendations from the arboretum.
Village President Cathy Adduci was appreciative of the arboretum grant.
“We are very grateful for this grant from the Morton Arboretum so that our ash trees can thrive,” she said. “The village is consistently seeking any grant opportunities to lessen the burden on our taxpayers, while providing the highest level of services to the community.”
Grant funding for projects is available for local units of government in Illinois to improve urban and community forestry programs through tree inventories, management plans, tree planting and woody invasive species removal and replacement. Eligible applicants include municipalities, townships, county governments, tribal governments, forest preserves, conservation districts and park districts. Funding is provided by the Urban and Community Forestry program of the USDA Forest Service through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
CRTI is the arboretum’s urban and community forestry program, working to improve the health, diversity and equitable distribution of trees in the Chicago region and throughout Illinois. CRTI partners with and facilitates collaboration among more than 500 organizations in the public, private and nonprofit sectors to inspire tree stewards and build municipal capacity and support for trees, with a focus on environmental equity and disadvantaged communities.
According to the Morton website, the arboretum is an internationally recognized tree-focused botanical garden and research center in Lisle. Its 1,700 acres of beautiful tree-filled landscapes are a place of enjoyment, a vibrant hub for nature education and a world-renowned center for scientific research that studies trees and how to sustain them. Its vision is a greener, healthier, more beautiful world where people and trees thrive together. As a nonprofit organization, the arboretum’s mission is to collect, study, display, and conserve trees and other plants from around the world to inspire learning, foster enjoyment, benefit communities, encourage action, and enhance the environment.
When Joy Morton established the Morton Arboretum in 1922, he envisioned a great outdoor museum of trees, according to the website. Nearly 100 years later, his vision is shared with millions of people who come to the arboretum to experience the benefits of spending time among trees, to learn or enjoy the beauty of plants and nature that inspire the arts. He recognized the essential need that remains today for a place to treasure being among trees and to study them for the well-being of people and the environment.
