Milbank goes out on a limb to save ash trees from invasive beetle

City leaders hope herd immunity strategy slows infestation, becomes roadmap for other communities in South Dakota
  • Emerald Ash Borer larva and the tunnel path they leave, which damages the host tree. Reporter & Farmer | Courtesy of John Ball/ South Dakota State University
    Emerald Ash Borer larva and the tunnel path they leave, which damages the host tree. Reporter & Farmer | Courtesy of John Ball/ South Dakota State University
  • Emerald Ash Borer on a penny next to the D-shaped holes the leave behind as evidence of their presence. Reporter & Farmer | Photo by Leah Bauer /USDA Forest Service
    Emerald Ash Borer on a penny next to the D-shaped holes the leave behind as evidence of their presence. Reporter & Farmer | Photo by Leah Bauer /USDA Forest Service

    It would cost up to $4 million to cut down Milbank’s ash trees, after state and city officials detected a beetle last summer that threatens to decimate the northeastern South Dakota city’s tree canopy.

    It’ll cost roughly 60 percent of that price, or $2.4 million over 12 years, to reach herd immunity against the emerald ash borer – and the city of roughly 3,500 people will keep most of its trees, sa…