ASH TREES REMOVED FROM LPA GOLF COURSES
More than 200 trees were planted on the two courses over the past several years in anticipation of ash trees being lost.
Posted 3/7/2022
By Susan Thompson
Lake Panorama Times
It was 2008 when I wrote my first story for the Lake Panorama Times about the havoc the emerald ash borer (EAB) could cause on the two Lake Panorama golf courses.
The EAB is a dark green metallic beetle. It was discovered in southeastern Michigan in the summer of 2002. The pest probably arrived in the U.S. on solid wood packing material carried in cargo ships or airplanes originating in its native Asia.
Although adult EAB beetles feed on ash leaves, it is the larval stage that kills trees. These creamy white, flattened larvae feed just under the bark. They produce winding tunnels that cut across the vessels carrying water, minerals and nutrients throughout the tree. Trees infested by EAB larvae starve and die, usually within two to four years.
In that 2008 story, Dan Wollner, who at the time was the LPN golf course superintendent, said he’d been attending meetings and hearing about the EAB danger for several years.
“It’s not a question of ‘if’ this will happen, but ‘when’ it will happen,” Wollner said.
The pest was first found in Iowa in 2010 along its eastern border. Since then, it has been working its way west across the state and was found in Guthrie County in 2020.
All ash trees on the LPN and Panorama West golf courses were evaluated a few years ago. About 100 deemed to be in “critical locations” were chosen to receive a chemical treatment that has proven effective, in some cases, in fighting off EAB infestations. About $10,000 is being spent for this biennial treatment.
That left a total of 355 ash trees on the golf courses. The LPA board decided removing these trees was too big of a job for staff to take on. In January, seven bids were received for a project to remove 355 trees, with 304 of those at the LPN and 51 at Panorama West. Bids ranged from $148,000 to $409,000. The low bidder was Xtreme Tree Service out of De Soto.
Lane Rumelhart, LPA project manager, coordinated the tree removal effort.
“It was important to remove these trees now rather than wait a couple more years. Ash trees become much more brittle as they decay, and more dangerous to work with,” he says. “Most of our bidders said they would increase their price by about 20 percent each year for the removal of these trees, as clean-up would become increasingly difficult, and their crews would need to be more cautious.”
Rumelhart says by removing the untreated trees, the treated trees will have a much better chance at survival.
“Treated ash trees have a 70-80 percent survival rate. We hope by removing all the untreated trees, we will maximize that survival rate,” he says.
Work began in mid-January and ran through much of February.
“The timing was appropriate, as a number of trees were showing signs of emerald ash borer infestation,” says John Rutledge, LPA general manager. “During the pre-bid meeting, many of the attendees mentioned they had already taken on large ash tree contracts for other golf courses and municipalities. If we had waited, there was a good chance these contractors would have been booked, and the tree removal may not have taken place for several more years.”
Rutledge says Xtreme Tree employees did an excellent job, with the work completed while the ground was frozen so turf damage was kept to a minimum. He said this also will allow golfers to get on the courses right away this spring with minimal impact to play.
The LPA has ordered a stump grinder that can be attached to a skid loader. Once it arrives, LPA maintenance staff will grind the stumps, add dirt and coordinate seeding with the golf course turf staff.
Shortly after the Xtreme Tree trucks pulled out, members of the LPA and LPN staff gathered and toured both golf courses, making notes on where trees should be replanted. They estimated about 30 trees are needed on the LPN course and another 10 at Panorama West. Staff is working on a planting plan.
“These trees will go in areas that were most heavily impacted,” says Rutledge. “It’s important to remember more than 200 trees were planted on the two courses over the past several years in anticipation of ash trees being lost.”
Those trees came from a tree nursery established in 2009. Charles and Judith Schnack are avid golfers who financed the tree nursery and spent hundreds of hours over several years tending the trees and later getting them replanted to appropriate locations.
The idea was to purchase young trees at a lower cost and grow them for a few years before transplanting. In spring 2009, Charles Schnack worked with Wollner to establish the nursery in the “no mow” area west of the No. 11 tee box.
Schnack ordered tree seedlings from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. He worked with LPN staff to kill the grass in the nursery area, dig holes and plant the trees. The Schnacks purchased 300 trees that first year, which included sugar maples, Norway spruce, white pine, sycamore and red oaks. They also took on the task of watering the seedlings.
The next spring, they purchased another 200 trees. The 2010 crop of seedlings included Kentucky Coffee trees, plus more Norway spruce and sugar maples. The Schnacks also added trees to the nursery in 2011 and 2013. Many trees in the nursery were lost to deer damage, but, in the end, more than 200 trees now on the two golf courses got their start in the Schnack nursery.
In the fall of 2010, 47 sycamore trees were transplanted on the LPN golf course. In 2015, another 100 trees were moved from the nursery to the LPN golf course. Fifty trees were transplanted in 2016, with some of those going to Panorama West.
“With those 200 trees already in place for several years, we are in pretty good shape,” Rutledge says. “We’ll add trees in key areas as soon as possible. The only issue is that it will take a number of years to enjoy the shade provided by the mature trees that had to be removed.”
By Susan Thompson
Lake Panorama Times
It was 2008 when I wrote my first story for the Lake Panorama Times about the havoc the emerald ash borer (EAB) could cause on the two Lake Panorama golf courses.
The EAB is a dark green metallic beetle. It was discovered in southeastern Michigan in the summer of 2002. The pest probably arrived in the U.S. on solid wood packing material carried in cargo ships or airplanes originating in its native Asia.
Although adult EAB beetles feed on ash leaves, it is the larval stage that kills trees. These creamy white, flattened larvae feed just under the bark. They produce winding tunnels that cut across the vessels carrying water, minerals and nutrients throughout the tree. Trees infested by EAB larvae starve and die, usually within two to four years.
In that 2008 story, Dan Wollner, who at the time was the LPN golf course superintendent, said he’d been attending meetings and hearing about the EAB danger for several years.
“It’s not a question of ‘if’ this will happen, but ‘when’ it will happen,” Wollner said.
The pest was first found in Iowa in 2010 along its eastern border. Since then, it has been working its way west across the state and was found in Guthrie County in 2020.
All ash trees on the LPN and Panorama West golf courses were evaluated a few years ago. About 100 deemed to be in “critical locations” were chosen to receive a chemical treatment that has proven effective, in some cases, in fighting off EAB infestations. About $10,000 is being spent for this biennial treatment.
That left a total of 355 ash trees on the golf courses. The LPA board decided removing these trees was too big of a job for staff to take on. In January, seven bids were received for a project to remove 355 trees, with 304 of those at the LPN and 51 at Panorama West. Bids ranged from $148,000 to $409,000. The low bidder was Xtreme Tree Service out of De Soto.
Lane Rumelhart, LPA project manager, coordinated the tree removal effort.
“It was important to remove these trees now rather than wait a couple more years. Ash trees become much more brittle as they decay, and more dangerous to work with,” he says. “Most of our bidders said they would increase their price by about 20 percent each year for the removal of these trees, as clean-up would become increasingly difficult, and their crews would need to be more cautious.”
Rumelhart says by removing the untreated trees, the treated trees will have a much better chance at survival.
“Treated ash trees have a 70-80 percent survival rate. We hope by removing all the untreated trees, we will maximize that survival rate,” he says.
Work began in mid-January and ran through much of February.
“The timing was appropriate, as a number of trees were showing signs of emerald ash borer infestation,” says John Rutledge, LPA general manager. “During the pre-bid meeting, many of the attendees mentioned they had already taken on large ash tree contracts for other golf courses and municipalities. If we had waited, there was a good chance these contractors would have been booked, and the tree removal may not have taken place for several more years.”
Rutledge says Xtreme Tree employees did an excellent job, with the work completed while the ground was frozen so turf damage was kept to a minimum. He said this also will allow golfers to get on the courses right away this spring with minimal impact to play.
The LPA has ordered a stump grinder that can be attached to a skid loader. Once it arrives, LPA maintenance staff will grind the stumps, add dirt and coordinate seeding with the golf course turf staff.
Shortly after the Xtreme Tree trucks pulled out, members of the LPA and LPN staff gathered and toured both golf courses, making notes on where trees should be replanted. They estimated about 30 trees are needed on the LPN course and another 10 at Panorama West. Staff is working on a planting plan.
“These trees will go in areas that were most heavily impacted,” says Rutledge. “It’s important to remember more than 200 trees were planted on the two courses over the past several years in anticipation of ash trees being lost.”
Those trees came from a tree nursery established in 2009. Charles and Judith Schnack are avid golfers who financed the tree nursery and spent hundreds of hours over several years tending the trees and later getting them replanted to appropriate locations.
The idea was to purchase young trees at a lower cost and grow them for a few years before transplanting. In spring 2009, Charles Schnack worked with Wollner to establish the nursery in the “no mow” area west of the No. 11 tee box.
Schnack ordered tree seedlings from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. He worked with LPN staff to kill the grass in the nursery area, dig holes and plant the trees. The Schnacks purchased 300 trees that first year, which included sugar maples, Norway spruce, white pine, sycamore and red oaks. They also took on the task of watering the seedlings.
The next spring, they purchased another 200 trees. The 2010 crop of seedlings included Kentucky Coffee trees, plus more Norway spruce and sugar maples. The Schnacks also added trees to the nursery in 2011 and 2013. Many trees in the nursery were lost to deer damage, but, in the end, more than 200 trees now on the two golf courses got their start in the Schnack nursery.
In the fall of 2010, 47 sycamore trees were transplanted on the LPN golf course. In 2015, another 100 trees were moved from the nursery to the LPN golf course. Fifty trees were transplanted in 2016, with some of those going to Panorama West.
“With those 200 trees already in place for several years, we are in pretty good shape,” Rutledge says. “We’ll add trees in key areas as soon as possible. The only issue is that it will take a number of years to enjoy the shade provided by the mature trees that had to be removed.”
Crews working for Xtreme Tree cut down 304 trees at LPN and 51 at Panorama West. The process involved throwing a rope up through the top of the tree. One person used a chainsaw to cut the base of the tree, with another person pulling on the rope to bring the tree down in the chosen spot.
The area at LPN where the impact of tree removal is most noticeable is around Spikes and near the back tees for the first and 10th holes. Eight large trees were removed, and planting new trees here will be a priority.
Taken in 2009, this photo shows Charles Schnack in the LPN tree nursery he and his wife, Judith, helped establish and finance. Over a period of years, more than 200 trees were moved from the nursery to spots on the LPN and Panorama West golf courses where it was known ash trees would someday be removed.
Branches from downed trees were run through a shredder and collected in the back of a large truck. This pile of wood chips near the LPN maintenance shed will be used for mulch on the golf course.
