Farmington Gets Grant to Help Eradicate Emerald Ash Borer
Monday, July 12, 2004

FARMINGTON – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm, U.S. Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments and members of the state’s Emerald Ash Borer Task Force announced last week that 47 communities in Southeast Michigan – including Farmington -- will share a one-time federal grant totaling $1.2 million to help them offset ash tree removal costs due to the destruction caused by Emerald Ash Borers.

The City of Farmington has been awarded $4,436.66 as part of this grant dispersement. “The Emerald Ash Borer has had a damaging impact on our state, especially in Oakland County and other parts of southeastern Michigan,” said State Representative Aldo Vagnozzi. “I’m glad our Democratic congressional delegation has been so persistent in securing these funds. Senators Levin and Stabenow should be commended for their hard work.”

The grants will be distributed by the Michigan Department of Agriculture to local units of government based on the number of landscape ash trees 4 inches or larger that have been or will be removed from municipal property between March 1 and November 20, 2004.

“Because of the devastations caused by the Emerald Ash Borer to ash trees in Southeast Michigan, these trees now pose a public safety threat and need to be removed in a timely manner,” said Levin. “These funds, which Senator Stabenow and I worked to include in the federal agriculture spending bill, will assist communities in their efforts to remove infested trees.”

The Emerald Ash Borer is an exotic insect native to Asia that attacks ash trees and was unknown in North American before being discovered in Michigan during the summer of 2002. The borer has already devastated approximately 8 million ash trees in the primary impacted six-county core zone in Southeast Michigan.

The state has an active, multiagency Emerald Ash Borer task force working collectively to detect, contain and eradicate EAB and minimize its damage. For more information, go to www.emeraldashborer.info.