Wasps, $25K Grant Part of Plan to Battle Emerald Ash Borer

The city of Port Washington was awarded a $25,000 Forestry Grant from the Department of Natural resournces to help replace trees lost to the Emerald Ash Borer infection discovered last summer.

The gran will also pay for a tree inventory/maintenance software to help officials manage the problem, City Engineer Rob Vanden Noven said. The city will have to spend $25,000 to combat the problem as part of an agreement to receive the grant, according to an Ozaukee Press article.

It's also possible that the DNR will "release wasps — which attack EAB eggs/larvae — this summer in Port Washington if the budget allows," he said. "These wasps don’t sting humans or pets. They’re only 1/4-inch long."

The city confirmed that EAB was found in the 400 block of North Powers Street on June 15. Port Washington had stopped planting ash trees along city streets in 2005 as a preventative step to the growing problem, a press release from the city said. Since 2002, the city also aggressively planted new street trees, increasing the total number of street trees from approximately 5,000 trees in 2001, to more than 8,000 trees in 2012.