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Home My WebLink About1977 06-29 A citizen's guide to diseased tree removal REVIEW • dis A citizen 'sguideto ..3a, -, by Anne Skinner to the city and not to the resident.This is go with your diseased elm and oak wood, probably the biggest source of confusion if you choose to fell the tree yourself, Put it this way: if you are going to the among city managers, county officials follows: trouble to remove a diseased elm for the and state employees. state and are willing to spend up to three hours on the phone wading through red As the program was explained to us,up Ramsey County uninformed tape—you deserve a medal to 45 percent reimbursement of removal Maplewood: The city has contracted of honor. costs will be funded to the municipalities. with Bred-Well tree company of Stevens If, on the other hand, you are going to The city then, has the option of either Point, Wisc. Diseased tree owners may the trouble to remove a diseased elm for channelling that to the residents or contract with the city if they wish, or the sake of your own conscience and or reimbursing itself for its own costs. remove the tree themselves.If,however, the environment — you may have you choose to hire your own contractor, patience enough to stay with the pursuit of The resident, either way, will end up again, keep the receipt. It will be im- ' intelligent information. paying at least 55 percent of the cost.The portant to have if funding is approved by To make a long story short, where and important prerequisite for reim- the city council. how to dispose of elm and oak wood bursement through this program will be a without a tree service is a highly guarded receipt. So keep it. For the do-it-yourselfers, Maplewood's secret in this state.Very few people know A blow by blow description of where to dumping site will open this Saturday and the answer and those who do are unwilling to disclose it. The people in charge even think the whole situation is ridiculous.Many admit it and throw up their hands. Others will get upset with the caller for requesting specific information. The situation boils down to: local communities want burning sites, or at least dumping sites for their residents' wood; the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (PCA) will not grant them without a permit, they will not issue permits either.The Metropolitan Council has put the whole ball of wax into the 1 counties'hands.The counties(Ramsey in particular) do not know which burning A(\cos-... 4 site has received permits and for how long,and which dumping sites are open— t l much less the cost to the consumer.MANY AREA RESIDENTS either have 47 C or soon will receive notices indicating `"� i, they have diseased trees living on their :IA ' 0 property. The law.states you will then e't , have 20 days to have the offender fill' ' ��) Qremoved or do it yourself. ARemoval by a tree service can be costly ' a► and often time consuming.Many services \ , A are swamped with work and maynot be . • `1 • able to schedule your tree in until after ' �� _ the 20day limit is up.But most area cities ' rA -140400 :111m..- 0 admit they are not prosecuting 20 day \\ �- limit offenders. Because their tree con- �� . b. 7 ��- tractors are apt to get behind too. pro„„„...... y►- Since cities are also in the process of ,` ..ice eliminating their diseased trees, you can + ( w.. r'" probably get a better price for removal by going through the city. As evidenced by i \ �� _ two residents of Maplewood however,the ., care of property may not always be �. \ Ail j ''� quality (see related story). But the city - � will carry insurance so,in all probability, .,�`� ��w you will be covered if damages do occur. t--.�„� e AS FAR AS REBATES or reim- -.......- bursement for doing your part to control /— _�� the spread of Dutch elm disease, ac- _ -/�- cording to a spokesperson at the state, >F •� ...so this year's laws are not yet clear. One thing is certain: the rebate will go eased tree removal will remain open every Saturday (only) reasonable.A permit is required and may Tree Service,or using their own or doing for the rest of the summer.It is located on be obtained at the Vadnais Heights City it themselves. County Road D,a half mile west of High- Hall,687 E. County Rd. F, open Monday If you choose to use the city's con- way 61. through Friday. tractor, the city will take the tree down At presstime, no charge had been The charge is$1 a cubic yard.The site is and assess the cost back to you over five established. But you can probably expect located on Centerville Road in the town. years. North St.Paul is in the process of figures in the area of $7.50 minimum For more details, call the Vadnais applying for state funds. based either on the cubic foot of wood or Heights City Hall, 429-5343. Senior citizens may defer,with interest, the type vehicle hauling. the assessment. The city's contractors Bill Cass at the city hall (777-8131) has Or,Little Canada residents will be able are charging about $5.88 per diameter more details. to use Maplewood's disposal site,located inch (measured about chest height) for Little Canada: Residents may either on County Road D, a half mile west of taking the tree down.The cost,of course, use the city's tree service, the St. Croix Highway 61.It is only open Saturdays.Bill will vary with heigt, age and ac- Tree Service from Wisc. or complete the Cass at Maplewood's city hall has more cessibility. task themselves. details. Those who aren't able to haul their trees The Vadnais Heights disposal site is North St. Paul: Residents have the away but are able to chop them down may available for use by Little Canada option of using the city's contractors, use the city's contractors to complete the residents. The rates seem the most Green Cove Tree Service or Woodchuck operation. Charges are averaging about i $52 a tree. The Maplewood disposal site is also I\ open to North St. Paul residents. No charge had been set at press time,but the site will be open this Saturday and every a Saturday(only)throughout the summer. a Washington County Oakdale:There are two disposal sites in the county. One is at Pine Bend and the I 4 t other in May Township. The Pine Bend `/ Sanitary Landfill, 2495 E. 117 St., Inver `, Grove Heights, 457-8655, has no requirement on size of logs.The rates are At.' $220 per cubic yard (figure about four to fir1k', ' � '✓ five cubic yards stacked cab height will fit 1 r under $10 must be cash. Only diseased wood is accepted. However, no whole T,, stumps or chipped material will be ac- c /i ., cepted. (ti �� If you have no way of hauling the wood to the site, the city contractor, upon 4iti /,, request, will make give a hauling c o estimate. His rates are$10 a cubic yard. Again, figure four to five cubic yards �� tt� .', – — stacked cab height will fit in a pick up I F `� '!' '\ truck. Call the Oakdale City Hall to ,,...„ request l estimate. or / Lake Elmo: See above for burning and dumping sites and rates. �'r Lake Elmo at this point has no program _'� / set up or contract arranged with a tree rservice. Your only recourse is to do it �,�1 yourself or hire a contractor yourself (often ata rate of $100 per tree.) If a rebate program becomes available the ••••••••""° city has expressed interest in obtaining funds, — "s It has not,however,committed itself to k' ...0'• '411.V°'411.V° distribute the funds to the residents or �' retain it to cover city forester costs.Your best insurance will be to hold on to your ommismaimeno/c=0,....... receipt, if and when a program is arranged.