Create an Account - Increase your productivity, customize your experience, and engage in information you care about. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has confirmed a case of Emerald AshBorer (EAB) at Carver Elementary School on Upper Afton Road. This is the first official documentation of EAB in Maplewood. EAB is a non-native beetle that causes widespread decline and death of ash trees. The larval stage of the beetle feeds on the tissue between the ash tree’s bark and sapwood, disrupting the transport of nutrients and water in a tree. If the infestation is high enough, the damage kills the tree. Millions of ash trees have been killed by EAB in eastern and Midwestern states. Maplewood has about 2,038 ash trees on boulevards and in manicured park areas, making up about 21% of park and boulevard trees. There are many additional ash trees in natural areas and on private property. The City’s EAB plan, adopted in 2011, focuses on slowing the spread of the beetles. Strategies include: education, inventory, monitoring, removal, replanting, and firewood management. Maplewood will host educational sessions this summer and fall to help residents identify ash trees and symptoms of EAB. Our city forester will do EAB inspections in late fall and winter, when signs and symptoms of EAB are easiest to see. And in late winter, the MDA will help the city survey ash trees within a mile of the infestation site to determine how wide-spread it is. What should Maplewood homeowners do?