EDITORS: A public meeting to describe the tree removal process and subsequent efforts to manage soil erosion will be held Jan. 27 at 7p.m. in the Boulevard Room in the Pierpont Commons (2101 Bonisteel Dr.).

Map of North Campus, Pierpont Commons at lower left center.

ANN ARBOR—A stand of Scotch Pine trees on the University of Michigan’s North Campus will be removed in mid-February, announced Marvin Pettway, U-M’s campus arborist. The Scotch Pine trees, located in a small section of the corner wood lot on Fuller Road northwest of the intersection with Bonisteel Drive, are diseased with pine wilt.

“It saddens me to call for the removal of this pine grove, but it would be more saddening to delay our response and knowingly allow this disease to spread to other pine groves on our campus,” Pettway said. “Pine wilt has taken such a heavy toll on Scotch Pine that extension specialists in several Midwest states no longer recommend planting this species as a landscape tree. The disease has a great ability to spread rapidly, especially in older Scotch Pines. We know that insecticides and nematicides have proved impractical or ineffective.”

A public meeting to describe the tree removal process and subsequent efforts to manage soil erosion will be held Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. in the Boulevard Room in the Pierpont Commons (2101 Bonisteel Dr.).

The tree removal, which will include tree tops and stumps, will take approximately three days. The wood will be chipped and transported to recyclers for use as fuel in power plants. Since the wood is diseased, it would not be suitable for mulch or firewood.

Pine wilt is caused by a complex of organisms including pine wood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus), blue-stain fungi (Ophiostoma spp.), pine sawyer beetle (Monochamus spp.), and bark beetle (lps spp.). By the time the tree needles begin to turn a grayish-green, resin flow from the wood has ceased and the tree is dead or dying. The disease is usually spread through beetles in the spring.

Pierpont CommonsMap of North Campus