When 86-year-old Jeanne Somers contacted the public investigator in November about an infestation of emerald ash borers in her neighbor’s yard, a dead ash tree had just fallen 70 feet tall in her driveway.
She told the public investigator it was the fourth tree to fall on her property in recent years, and she was having difficulty convincing her neighbors to cut down the remaining dozens of trees along her property.
Despite several complaints to city officials and her neighbors, no efforts were made to cut down the timber giants overlooking her home.
But shortly after the public investigator contacted Somers’ neighbors, Ald. Steven Kurkowski, Oak Creek Mayor Dan Bukiewicz and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to see how the problem could be resolved, the city sent a letter to Somers’ neighbor encouraging them to remove the ash trees.
“They came to my door, apologized and said they were going to have someone come and take them away right after Thanksgiving,” Somers told the Public Investigator the week after the story was published. “I feel like if you hadn’t come, nothing would have happened.”
Since then, contractors have come to the adjacent property to cut and tear down the dead ash trees.
Jeanne Somers, 86, has been dealing with her neighbor’s dead ash trees collapsing on her property for a decade.
The Impact of the Emerald Ash Borer on Wisconsin Homeowners
Wisconsin is home to approximately 900 million ash trees scattered throughout forests, urban residential areas and city streets.
The invasive emerald ash borer, which kills ash trees by eating away at the tissue beneath the tree bark, was first found in Wisconsin in 2008. In July 2024, scientists announced they had detected the species in all 72 Wisconsin counties.
According to Bill McNee, a DNR forest health specialist for southeastern Wisconsin, the majority of infected trees will likely fall within the next five to 10 years.
When a tree dies on private property, the financial and physical burden of tree removal almost always falls on property owners, experts told the Public Investigator.
In many cases, the financial burden of tree removal for homeowners like Somers’ neighbor can be a limiting factor in ash tree removal. It can cost between $1,200 and $2,500 to cut down a tree, depending on its size and the complexity of the environment around it.
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Protecting ash trees before they become infected can also be a difficult and costly process that takes several years.
Several affordable insecticide treatments repel the emerald ash borer and can be sprayed on trees. These treatments cost about $30 to $50 each and should be administered each year in the spring, says PJ Liesch, director of the Insect Diagnostic Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Alternative longer-lived insecticides can be injected directly into tree bark, but cost significantly more.
“Your call prompted them to do something.”
Over the past decade, Somers said she has spent more than $4,000 cleaning gutters, removing tree limbs and repairing garages after rotting ash trees fell in her backyard. According to Somers, the dead trees repeatedly snapped power lines, leaving her without power for twelve to twenty-four hours.
By Wednesday, all but one of the remaining ash trees in her neighbor’s yard had been cut down.
She said she never expected anyone to return her calls and emails about the issue after months of unanswered pleas to local officials.
She said she was grateful for the detective’s ability to connect her with her councilwoman, mayor and DNR representatives.
“I’m so relieved because at some point one of those trees was going to fall on my house,” Somers said. “Your call prompted them to do something.”
What you need to know if you encounter infected ash trees in your garden
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Do not transport contaminated ash wood. Use the wood for firewood. “What you wouldn’t want to do is load that into your vehicle or truck and move wood long distances because that could move the pests,” Liesch said.
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If you suspect you have infected ash trees in your garden, contact an expert for evaluation. If you notice infected trees in your neighborhood, please contact your councilor or Rijkswaterstaat.
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If an ash tree dies in your garden, it is best to replant another tree species in its place, as ash trees will always be susceptible to the emerald ash borer.
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If a neighbor or nearby business refuses to remove dead ash trees from their property and you are at risk of property damage, contact your insurance company or an attorney for assistance.
Tamia Fowlkes is a Public Investigator reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She can be reached at tfowlkes@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Public Investigator story helps Oak Creek woman get ash trees cut down
